Green tea, well-known for its potent inhibitor and disease-fighting properties, has been discovered to help protect against glaucoma and other eye problems.

The new research, the first documenting how the lens, retina and other eye tissues take up these substances, opens the likelihood that green tea may protect against glaucoma and other common eye diseases.

Glaucoma is an illness in which the nervus opticus gets damaged, leading to progressive, permanent vision loss.

Chi Pui Pang, department of ophthalmology and visual sciences, Chinese University of Hong Kong, and fellow workers noticed that the green tea "catechins" have been among several inhibitors thought able to protect the eye.

Those consist of vitamin C, vitamin E, lutein and zeaxanthin. Until now, however, nobody knew if the catechins in green tea actually passed from the stomach and gastrointestinal tract into the tissues of the eye.

Pang and his fellow workers settled that uncertainty in experimentations with laboratory mice that consumed green tea, said a release of the American Chemcial Society (ACS).

Investigation of eye tissues showed beyond a doubt that eye structures absorbed significant amounts of individual catechins.

The effects of green tea catechins in lessening dangerous oxidative stress in the eye lasted for up to 20 hours.

"Our results indicate that green tea consumption could benefit the eye against oxidative stress," the study concluded.

The study results were released in the ACS' bi-weekly Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. (With Inputs from Agencies)