She became the first woman to earn a doctorate in agriculture in her country in 1932.
Have you ever wondered why green tea tastes bitter?
What properties are those that give it that particular and different taste from common tea?
Originally from China and Japan, this millenary drink began to be consumed as long ago as in the year 2,700 BC, forming a fundamental part of the culture of many Asian countries.
But it wasn’t until mid 1920 when it was actually studied and analyzed in detail its chemical composition that helped to understand, among other things, where that bitter taste came from.
The scientist behind that finding is called Michiyo Tsujimura. Thanks to his curiosity and incredible ability to crush tea leaves, he was able to conclude that it had healing and beneficial elements for health.
But how did you manage to lead this discovery in a scientific world that was then dominated by men? Here we tell you.
A pioneer of science in Japan
Michiyo Tsujimura was born in 1888 in what is now the Japanese city of Okenawa, in Saitama prefecture.
She studied at the Tokyo Normal School for Women, graduating from 1909.
Later, she entered the Biochemical Sciences Division at Tokyo High School for Women.
There, he discovered his interest in scientific research, a branch that until then was mostly led by men.
And he met other women who were leading the way, including, Kono Yasui, a renowned cell biologist and biochemist, who became the first Japanese woman to earn a Ph.D. in science and who deeply inspired Tsujimura.
After graduating in 1917, Tsujimura took up science classes at pioneering women’s institutes.
But her enormous interest in learning led her to take a step further, joining the Hokkaido Imperial University, where female students were not accepted.
His way in, then, was as an assistant in the Food and Nutrition Laboratory of the Department of Agricultural Chemistry, a job for which he received no remuneration.
On this site he devoted himself to the study of silkworms and their nutrition. And so, little by little, he began to gain some recognition.
C vitamin
But his true passion would not be found in worms until a couple of years later, in 1923, when he joined Riken, the huge and reputed Natural Science Research Institute of Japan.
There he joined the laboratory where he studied chemistry and nutrition in the field of agriculture, and worked closely with Umetaro Suzuki, a scientist famous for successfully discovering and extracting vitamin B1 from rice bran.
Tsujimura was particularly attracted to the green tea, a drink that at that time (and until now) was very popular in Japan, China and other Asian countries but which, incredibly, had been little studied.
Thus, in 1924, thanks to a joint investigation with his colleague named Seitaro Miura, Tsujimura discovered the strong presence of C vitamin in the leaves with which the infusion was prepared.
According to the University of Ochanimuzu in Japan, this finding generated a strong increase in interest in green tea on the other side of the world, in the West, and particularly in the United States.
And, with it, exports of this drink from Japan to North America.
Ph.D. in agriculture
His investigations, however, would not end there.
In 1929, the Japanese scientist managed to isolate and extract a flavonoid called catechin, a powerful natural antioxidant that, among other things, helps prevent cell damage, and is responsible for the bitter taste of tea.
The following year, Tsujimura managed to extract the catechin in the form of crystals. He did the same with tannin, another antioxidant component in green tea.
According to the University of Ochanomizu, this research required “a lot of patience” because it needed to boil a large amount of green tea repeatedly to obtain a small amount of crystals.
But the scientist knew that patience was a key principle in her work.
“Chemistry is not suitable for those who want to see results in a certain period of time”he once said.
Then, he published his thesis with both discoveries (vitamin C and catechin), entitled “On the chemical components of green tea”, With which she became the first woman to obtain a doctorate in agriculture in her country in 1932.
However, his interest in green tea continued and in 1934 he managed to isolate galocatechin, another flavonoid compound that has health benefits.
In 1935 he patented his method for extracting vitamin C crystals from plants. Today this procedure is used on a large scale in the world and is presented in pharmaceutical form through oral nutritional supplements.
A decade later, Tsujimura was appointed professor of the Ochanimuzu University, where she ended up being the first woman to hold the position of dean of the Faculty of Home Economics.
After retiring from Ochanomizu University in 1955, she taught at Jissen Women’s University until the mid-1960s.
A year before her death, in 1968, the scientist looked back on her career as a researcher and told her students: “My research work was full of difficulties but it was very pleasant.”
“Not finding regrets in my life was my supreme happiness”, added.
Tsujimura enjoyed long walks with her dog until her last days. Finally, he died in Toyohashi on June 1, 1969 at the age of 81.
Paul is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment and general news. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established herself as a respected voice in the industry.
