Tea’s calming effect may have been discovered by researchers. Zhenbiao Yang, a plant cell biologist at the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology in China, believes that there is something in tea that helps us relax. Studies indicate that theanine, a chemical found in tea, may be responsible for its sleep-inducing properties. Additionally, theanine gives tea an umami flavor, often described as savoriness. Yang and his team studied the microbial communities in the roots of two oolong tea plant varieties, maoxie and rougui. They found that the rougui roots had more microbes that metabolize nitrogen, a nutrient that tea plants convert into theanine. The researchers isolated 21 bacterial strains from rougui roots to create an experimental microbial medley called SynCom. They then inoculated soils with live or dead SynCom and added a nutrient solution with varying nitrogen levels to study its effects on tea plants.
2024-02-15 11:00:00
Originally from www.sciencenews.org