In a nutshell, an autoimmune disease is a condition when the body's immune system attacks itself from within, identifying some legitimate parts of a person's body as foreign cells and triggering a defensive function against it. This is especially true with type I diabetes and Sjoren's syndrome patients.

What happens oftentimes with these patients is that their glands are attacked by lymphocytes, a type of white blood cell that accumulates in swollen areas. Salivary and tear glands are often the first to go, with no cure or prevention known until now.

Researchers at the Medical College of Georgia say that the possible treatment for autoimmune diseases may have been right under our noses. Green tea has been observed to lower the degree of autoimmune responses upon testing it on patients afflicted with Sjoren's syndrome.

"We suspected that green tea would suppress the inflammatory response of this disease. Those treated with the green tea extract beginning at three weeks, showed significantly less damage to those glands over time," says Dr. Stephen Hsu. Scientists got the inkling from a component in green tea known as EHCH which has inflammation-suppressing properties.

Patients during the research were divided into two groups. One group was treated with green tea extract while the other was treated with plain water. The results showed that those who took green tea had significantly less inflammation and less lymphocyte volumes than their counterparts.

Researchers say that if all goes well, green tea might be developed further as a possible treatment for lupus, psoriasis, scleroderma and rheumatoid arthritis, which are all autoimmune disorders.