**4.5 Immunoregulation effects**

The immune system provides resistance to disease. Researchers at the Fujian Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine studied the immune function of scented tea on animals. Jasmine scented tea was shown to increase the number of white blood cells, lymphocytes and T lymphocytes in the blood [16]. Lin et al. [70] compared the effects of jasmine scented tea, traditional Chinese medicine (the main components

## *Research Progress on the Health Benefits of Scented Tea DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.106605*

are angelica, yam and liquorice) and compound tea (88.5% scented tea and 11.5% of traditional Chinese medicine) on the immune function of mice with acute renal failure. The results showed that 2.5% scented tea, 2.5% compound tea and 0.3% traditional Chinese medicine could significantly reduce the content of molecular substances in serum and significantly promote the proliferation of mouse spleen T and B lymphocytes and enhance the activity of mouse spleen lymphocytes. The study further showed that jasmine scented tea, traditional Chinese medicine and compound tea could enhance the immune function of the spleen in mice and jasmine scented tea and compound tea had more significant immune effects on mice. In addition, Li et al. [71] used ovalbumin sensitised mice as an immune response model to study the immunoregulation effect of aqueous extract of honeysuckle. Water extract of honeysuckle could alleviate the inflammation of intestinal villi in allergic mice, reduce the aggregation and degranulation of mast cells, increase the ratio of intact mast cells in the lamina propria, reduce the release of histamine in the intestinal tract of allergic mice, reduce levels of interleukin-4 and ovalbumin, reduce the ratio of interleukin-4/ interferon-γ in allergic mice and inhibit transcription levels of interleukin-12 in peripheral lymphoid tissue mononuclear cells.
