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EGCG Green Tea Extract
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Charlene: I will certainly let you know if I see anything else from Pliant!
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Hi
I have been following the green tea thread for a while and have been surprised that it went so quiet towards the end of 2020 – there were several prolific contributors for a while there, then radio silence… any updates, positive or negative, from those who started their own personal trials would be much appreciated!!
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Stuart,
I started taking Teavigo green tea extract soon after an article about the study appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine. I also had a CtScan and PFT around the same time. That was around Feb-Mar of 2020. The study participants were taking 600MG daily. I am taking 300MG daily. My IPF as been stable. I had a CTscan and PFT in April of this year (2021). The CTscan showed no disease progress over the previous 13 months. The PFT showed minor improvement over the same period.
Note however that I was diagnosed in 2007 at age 67. My IPF has been progressing at an almost imperceptible slow rate since then.
My experience is so unusual that my use of green tea extract may not provide much guidance for others considering its use to fight IPF.
An overnight oximeter monitoring was conducted in May. It showed that my O2 levels were dropping to unsafe levels several times an hour during my sleep. O2 at 1 liter/hr flow during bedtime was prescribed inserted through my CPAP tubing. I do not otherwise use supplemental O2.
I do carry a pulse-oximeter with me and my readings are consistently in the 94-100% range.
One final note: Since I have been drinking green tea and taking the extract pills my general health has improved. I feel better overall.
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Thanks Ron
Well, as you say, you seem to be on a pretty slow IPF track in any case, but the EGCG certainly doesn’t appear to be doing you any harm,…. I mighty give it a try.
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Stuart/Ron:
Like you, I, too, follow the ECGC Green Tea follow up, however, it seems to have gone away, that is, until you gents wrote about it. My question to the Forum is, “Does anyone still follow this subject?”
I take one or two Teavigo 150mg capsules of ECGC daily. My pulmonologist at Mayo Clinic said it was OK. I also take Esbriet and and a bunch of other stuff for non-related issues. I’ve not had a follow up visit to the pulmonologist and am not due until Fall. My experience with ECGC is limited but, like most PF’ers, I grasp at straws. I’m 82 and am very active playing golf 4x a week and swimming almost daily. My resting oxygen levels are around 96. Shortness of breath has, to date, not been an issue. I can foresee it being an issue, however. That’s why I try to be so active as I think that, more than any medicine, is helping me.
Anyway, I’ve rambled but, bottom line, I do want as much information on ECGC as I can get. Any of you out there who can share will be appreciated. Thanks and Best Wishes, Lou
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Are you guys still taking the egcg supplement, If so any improvement? Its been silent for very long now. Any answers are welcome
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I took it for a short time but have stopped. During the time I was taking it I didn’t notice any difference and my PFTs did reflect any change while on it. I’m taking Ofev now and have seen some improvement with that.
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The green tea farse, or at least that is what I call it. After reading the news release on green tea I bought several bottle’s and started taking the supplement. Then I thought I would look into the study. The study was done at prestigious california university and then I thought I would read the study. There it was at the end of the study, it was the President, vice president and board members of the green tea company doing the study.
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@jgenesio
Hey Jerry,
I took EGCG a few years ago and stopped after a few months because I noticed no difference. I started it again about 2 years ago and it has helped. Green tea has lots of benefits on its own, EGCG being the concentrate.
Regards weight loss I take 6 EGCG per day and it has had no effect on my weight. So it must affect everyone in that way a little differently.
Stay well,
Steve -
I have been diagnosed with IpF for about a year and a half. I started taking life extension green tree extract 750 mg per day over a year ago I can’t say the CT scans have not shown improvements, but it’s possible that there would have been more growth. My blood test 2 showed my liver function great. I have been on a journey of weight loss for a year and a half and I have not showed any extra weight loss while taking Greentree extract for about a year.
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I have been taking 400 mg of EGCG/day since reading about that small study reported in NJAM, maybe 8-9 months ago. No effect on my weight, alas; I would like to lose some weight. I started at 600 mg, the amount used in the study, but cut back because I find it a little upsetting to the stomach. I am also taking Pirfenidone (Esbriet). My docs didn’t find the study very persuasive, but they saw no harm in my giving it a try. My condition has been pretty stable. I use O2 at about 4LPM, which is really needed mostly when I’m exerting myself; but since I exert myself off and on all the time, I just use that amount routinely (unless I’m filling small tanks from my concentrator, when I have to dial it back to 3).
I saw that there’s a new green tea study coming (or maybe underway) at some center. I saw the posting on clinicaltrials.gov, but it wasn’t close to me. Someone’s taking green tea seriously enough to run a new study.
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Thanks for the reply guys. I heard that it is good at reducing cough. Hopefully it help in other aspects well
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Hi Folks,
Hope this won’t be too long, but wanted to share. I also started on Green Tea extract (GTE), 725mg, after reading the studies from NEJM and the Stanford studies. As is my proclivity, nothing happening at 1/day, then increased to 2/ day, then 4/day, at times 6/day. I’m not suggesting this for anyone, just reporting. Nothing happening but after a couple weeks at 4+/day. My O2 #’s were consistently 2-4% higher. I couldn’t figure it out, as I forgot about the GTE. Then remembered and something was keeping the #’s higher, regularly. As is my wont, I ran out and forgot to order the stuff and I noticed my numbers going down. Again, curious, I remembered I stopped the GTE. Ordered up a bottle and after a couple of weeks the #/s increased that 2-3%. I’ve have a couple more of the “forgets” and then the same results. In the past 6 mos. having a steeper glide path to the eventual landing (I was dxed in 8/2018) I had been off GTE again, as it seemed like it wouldn’t make difference. But I said “what the hey” and started again at 4/day. 2 wks in again the #’s increased. Hasn’t changed my need tank O2 out on the trails, but just feel better (mayber the caffeine?) and I’m just gonna keep going with it. No physical upsets of any kind. Just passin’ along my experience. It’s not a double-blind test, but something does change. I don’t think O2 #’s would be affected by placebo effect.
Rand O’Brien
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I have been taking EGCG green tea extract off and on for months but afer reading the article I will start using it every day.
I am 80 years old and have had IPF for 8 years.
I am on 6 liters of oxygen 24/7 and have for 5 years.
I also take Esbriet, so maybe the green tea will help some but at my age I can’t expect much.
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I forgot to mention in my longer Green Tea gig, that I’ve been on Ofev for a little over 4yrs. Had an allergic reaction to Esbriet after about 4 mos. No miracle cure here, but seems like it adds a governor to the IPF engine.
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I have been using the Teavigo ECGC extract as defined in the study since it first appeared on PFF. In addition, I started Esbriet a year or more before the ECGC article. My PFT results have had a slight decline but nothing very significant. I’m also in a clinical trial involving inhaled Tyvaso which is normally used for pulmonary artery hypertension. The theory behind the Tyvaso trial is it may help with IPF.
Does any of this help? Who knows – a single person trying these drugs can not tell you if they are good or not. They need the statistical data from larger populations in order to make those kinds of conclusions.
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How are people dealing with the end stage part of this disease. How have you educated your families?
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@Anonymous – I am a wise guy, and I had concocted a tongue in cheek answer to your post, but I decided not to soil the dignity of the forum by posting it. Anonymous? Inactive? Miracle cure? hmmmmmmmm
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Pete Besio:
I don’t think anyone here has fallen for a “miracle cure” pitch. We were actually astonished that such a small study made it into the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine. I think the reason it did appear there is that it was conducted by a legitimate group, involved serious metrics, and had such good results. It is my hope that this will lead to further research and larger studies to prove or disprove the efficacy of ECGC treatment for IPF. Unfortunately, proper studies take lots of money and there is not much financial incentive for a company to invest in such research. ECGC can’t be patented. The best hope would be for funding by NIH.
That’s why I took the leap to use green tea extract a year ago and so far my PFT results actually improved. There’s nothing wrong with treating yourself with safe products if you have no mainstream options open. I was taken off both OFEV and Esbriet due to side effects.
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Ron,
My post was in response to another post by “Anonymous” which has since been deleted by the mods. This post did indeed reference that this person had been cured using the herbal supplements provided by WEI. I was pretty sure the mods would delete that post and was hoping they would delete mine to, because without that post in the thread…mine makes no sense.Pretty sure a lot of us would pay $300 for the cure….most of us are paying significantly more than that per month for medication that can only promise to stem the progress of the disease.
PEte -
Thanks Pete,
Yes, apparently the earlier post was deleted causing a disconnect with yours. I did misunderstand. Thanks for the clarification.
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