Nutrients
The 67LR Receptor: How Green Tea Works in Your Body
EGCG from green tea activates the 67LR receptor much like insulin does, with remarkable benefits for muscle preservation, heart health, and disease prevention.
Nutrients
EGCG from green tea activates the 67LR receptor much like insulin does, with remarkable benefits for muscle preservation, heart health, and disease prevention.
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2015 saw a study where researchers essentially observed live what EGCG – the main molecule in green tea – does in muscle tissue (of laboratory animals). Of course, in vitro, meaning not in the living organism. And they discovered something fascinating: EGCG caused Foxo1, a protein, to disappear from the cell nucleus.
What's special about that? Well, Foxo1 is part of a cellular rhythmic system where it leaves the nucleus whenever insulin or growth hormones (e.g., IGF1) increase and act on the cell. Insulin and IGF1 have anabolic effects – Foxo1, by contrast, has catabolic effects. The latter is important when you're in a fasting state. But in principle, cells need the anabolic input from insulin and IGF1.
In our modern world, unfortunately, many people develop insulin resistance due to caloric excess. Insulin and IGF1, both acting via the insulin receptor, simply don't work well anymore. The consequences are chronic inflammation, damaged arteries, shrinking muscles, shrinking bones ... and so on. This is why researchers are working to find (natural) compounds that can reverse this.
In 2015, researchers were able to observe that EGCG also removes Foxo1 from the nucleus, suggesting that EGCG might work like insulin and IGF1. However, in the same study they also proved that EGCG doesn't bind to the insulin receptor ... but rather to some other receptor. Oh! Mysterious.
Apparently it wasn't clear to the researchers that this mysterious receptor was already described back in 2004. Because EGCG can – incredibly – work like a hormone and selectively activate receptors in the body. This receptor is known in short form as 67LR – better known as: 67-kDa laminin receptor. This "evolutionarily highly conserved" receptor is ancient and found in many animals. It plays a role in a variety of biological processes.
Japanese researchers especially seem interested in studying EGCG's effects via 67LR. And so two studies from Japan, from the same laboratory, from 2020 and 2022 respectively, show very, very exciting findings. The researchers describe that EGCG binds to this mysterious receptor, which in cells then does the following:
Akt1 is the junction point. Because the activated insulin receptor also causes Akt1 to activate, and that in turn ensures that Foxo1 disappears from the cell nucleus. In 2020, a study confirmed exactly that: EGCG actually works via 67LR and thus via Akt1 in the muscle to inhibit protein breakdown – caused by Foxo1-activated proteins. Sensational!
Besides the insulin receptor, activated by the two hormones insulin and IGF1, there appears to be a third, potent pathway to deactivate genes that protect muscle. Namely 67LR, activated by EGCG. Incredible.
But that's not all. 67LR, when activated by EGCG, shows a variety of positive effects:
And among other reasons, this is why green tea and also black tea perform so well in so many studies. They work via EGCG and thus through 67LR activity – simply very potent. For this reason, everyone should drink a cup of green or black tea now and then, or take an EGCG supplement. It will do your body good.
Oh yes, listen carefully: According to the authors, this 67LR receptor is "strongly upregulated by retinoic acid" – that rings a bell for some, doesn't it? Retinoic acid is also a hormone and is produced in the body from vitamin A. So it seems that vitamin A and EGCG work synergistically. Worth keeping in mind.
