Medical researcher Neville Vassallo. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

Tea leaves might play an essential role in treating and possibly curing Parkinson’s disease, according to local researchers working on a cure for the degenerative disease.

Medical researcher Neville Vassallo and his team at the University of Malta are exploring the possibility of developing plant extracts, present in black tea as well as red wine and berries, into an effective treatment for the crippling disease.

“It has been established that certain plant extracts lower the risk of developing the disease so we turned to ‘Mother Nature’s drug cabinet’. Now we are taking it a step further; we believe that these chemicals can be used to treat people who already have the disease,” Dr Vassallo said.

International research found black tea was among several rich sources of the chemical compound, Epigallocatechin Gallate (EGCG), which reduced the risk of contracting Parkinson’s disease by up to 75 per cent.

The local researchers are basing their work on a study conducted by Harvard Medical School, which followed 130,000 adults for over 20 years.

The study concluded that the extracts, known under the umbrella term flavonoids, created an environment in which the disease could not fully develop.

The results of Dr Vassallo’s research project, ‘Modifly’, were delivered yesterday during a lecture. The project’s aim is to identify and modify the chemicals which could stop the disease in its tracks.

‘Modifly’ is being carried out in collaboration with the German Centre for Neurodegenerative Diseases and recently received a vital €200,000 grant from the Malta Council for Science and Technology.

“We infected fruit flies with the disease, hence the name. This caused them to exhibit typical Parkinson’s symptoms, staggered movement and in this case: the inability to fly. Then we gave them EGCG and the results were phenomenal, the flies seemed to be cured,” Dr Vassallo said.

The research is still in its infancy but Dr Vassallo is confident that by the end of the project’s three-year life span the team will have made significant headway.

“The ultimate goal is to develop a product that can be clinically tested and then distributed; I believe we can do it. Until then I recommend drinking at least three mugs of tea a day,” Dr Vassallo said.

What is Parkinson’s?

Parkinson’s disease is a degenerative neurological disease. Symptoms include shaking, rigidity and difficulty in walking.

Behavioural symptoms often develop as the disease progresses; these can include dementia and depression.

The cause of the disease baffled the medical world for decades but was recently discovered to be a mutation of a protein.

Parkinson’s disease affects one in every 5,000 people, with approximately four million patients worldwide. Over 1,000 Maltese people suffer from the disease.