Cape Town - South Africa has one of the highest rates of skin cancer in the world with about 20 000 reported cases every year but rooibos tea is emerging as a combating tool.
This is according to Professor Wentzel Gelderblom from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology’s Institute of Biomedical and Microbial Biotechnology.
Gelderblom said rooibos tea can serve as protection against the adverse effects of UVB exposure.
“Once the skin has been exposed to the sun’s ultra-violet (UV) rays, rooibos extracts have the ability to remove precancerous damaged cells and also block the onset of inflammation,” he said.
“Preliminary findings show that rooibos extracts are more effective during the early stages of skin cancer development as they are able to facilitate the removal of UVB damage cells thereby delaying their progression into a tumour.”
He also explained that rooibos does this by “stopping the multiplication of cancerous cells” and “removing these cells
through programmed cell death”, in other words, “prompting them to commit suicide”.
UVB rays can also burn and damage your skin, especially at high altitudes.
“We are developing biomarkers, representing critical biological processes of how rooibos tea protects against skin cancer,” Gelderblom said.