AYUSH Ministry rejects Tea Board's plea to combat COVID-19

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga and naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH) has refused to accept the plea of the Tea Board of India to include black tea as an immunity booster to combat COVID-19.

The Ministry, in a recent letter to Tea Board chairman Prabhat Kamal Bezbaruah, stated that 'theaflavin' — the phytoconstituent of black tea — does not come under its purview as per the legal provisions of Ayurvedic, Siddha, Unani and Homeopathic medicines prescribed in the Drugs & Cosmetics Act, 1940.

"Not just 'theaflavin', several bioactive substances of plant origin like 'flavonoids, flavones, catechins, polyphenols and phytoestrogens', known to be beneficial as antioxidants or immunomodulators, are not considered Ayush products but phytopharmaceuticals or phytoneutraceuticals," Secretary in AYUSH Ministry Rajesh Kotecha said in his reply on March 26.

The AYUSH Ministry has, however, advised the Tea Board to propagate scientifically proven findings of black tea as immunity booster from its own channels.

"Black tea has a high amount of antioxidants, which may help in boosting immunity," the Tea Board recently tweeted.

"Medicinal and nutritional properties of tea act as an immunity booster and promote healthy life. In 1989, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that one of the major factors to human longevity is to consume more tea and less smoking," said a member of India Tea Association (ITA).

In 2017, the United Nations called upon the tea industry to focus on the health benefits of tea to attract the younger generation to drinking tea. The appeal was made by the working group on global markets analysis and promotion, part of the Inter-Governmental Group on tea under the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO IGG) of the UN.

"The AYUSH Ministry might have technical issues to include black tea as immunity booster against various ailments including COVID-19. But we will continue to propagate health benefits of tea," the ITA member added.