London - Good news for those who like a cuppa with a more refined flavour.
Enzymes in bergamot, which gives Earl Grey tea its fragrance, could lower cholesterol, reducing the risk of heart disease, according to an Italian study.
In fact, bergamot orange, from Italy, has been used medicinally in all sorts of ways. A chilled Earl Grey tea bag pressed on a lip is said to heal coldsores, for example.
Another study, published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, found that people exposed to bergamot oil vapours for up to an hour had “statistically significant” lower blood pressure and heart rates.
Meanwhile Professor G. Rosano, of the San Raffaele Pisana clinic in Rome, is looking at whether a supplement made from the juice of the bergamot orange could reduce the build-up of fat in liver cells that leads to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
Many of its medicinal uses are based on bergamot’s antiseptic and anti-inflammatory properties.
A 2010 study, published in the Journal of Lipid Research, found that bergamot could supress the production of COX-2, an enzyme involved in causing pain and swelling. - Daily Mail