Green Tea: Healthy Benefits In A Bitter Brew
by Christine Cox

Green tea, the bitter brew served alongside our meals in Chinese or Japanese restaurants, has never won hearts here in the West. But perhaps we should give this beverage–the daily brew of millions of people worldwide–another chance. Study after study is providing compelling proof that drinking tea–particularly in its green form–may protect us from an impressive variety of ills.

Camellia sinensis, the plant from which all tea, green or black, is made, probably originated in China. One story tells us that the Buddha, in an attempt to help monks stay alert, created tea plants from the eyelids of a frustrated monk who fell asleep in spite of vows to remain awake. Another myth claims that the beverage was discovered by accident when the leaves of camellia were blown by a fortuitous breeze into a cup of boiling water that just happened to be held in the hands of a discerning emperor. Whatever the origins of tea, the plant now grows on hillsides all over Asia and India. After the leaves are picked, they are steamed briefly, in the case of green tea, and are fermented, in the case of the more familiar black tea. In either case, tea provides a rich cocktail of potent phytochemicals that may help us stave off a variety of deadly diseases.

Can Tea Help Prevent Strokes?

A 15-year study of 552 Dutch men found that their main source of antioxidant flavonoids was black tea, followed by apples. In spite of the limited range of their diet, the researchers found that those men who consumed the most flavonoids–mostly as copious cups of tea–had substantially fewer strokes than those who took in less.

How many cups of brew brought the best protection? Men who drank more than four cups a day had 69% less chance of a stroke than those who took less than 21/2 cups a day. And The Lancet reports that elderly men who consumed the highest amounts of tea, onions, and apples had fewer fatal heart problems than those who infrequently took these items.

Besides flavonoids, tea contains powerful antioxidant catechins, which are part of the tannins in tea. Together they form a potent mix. A study of green-tea-drinking Japanese men found that the more cups of this delicate brew that they quaffed each day, the lower their cholesterol levels and other markers for heart disease. And those men who knocked back an astonishing 10 daily cups or more decreased their chances of liver disease. A downside of tannins, however, is that they can bind iron, making it difficult for the body to absorb it.

Those ubiquitous denizens of the lab, white mice, who drank green tea as their only fluid and were then exposed to ultra violet rays, had an incredible 88% fewer skin tumors than mice who drank only water! And almost 94% of their rodent cousins, rats, who were given green tea catechins survived breast cancer, compared to only 33.3% of their non-tea-imbibing sisters.

A Way to Keep Your Teeth?

Need other reasons to switch to tea? Japanese researchers report that tea may help you keep your teeth. Certain tea catechins may inhibit breakdown of collagen in cases of periodontal disease, the progressive loss of the bones that hold our teeth in our jaws. Not only that, rats fed tea had far fewer cavities than those who went without. A word of caution: the studies were only preliminary lab experiments. But they were promising enough to indicate that a daily cup of tea is a good idea for those of us who would rather keep our teeth in our mouths than on the nightstand.

Whooping cough and pneumonia also appear to yield to the power of tea. In fact, test tube experiments showed tea to act potently against many kinds of bacteria–including salmonella and cholera.

And you don't need to spend your days swilling tea to reap some of the benefits of this green beverage. A population study in Shanghai showed that just one cup a day appears to lower risk of stomach cancer by 30%!

Prefer black tea? Prefer to avoid caffeine? Most studies indicate that tea in virtually any of its forms–even decaffeinated–is in many cases almost as effective as the super green. One caveat: don't add milk to your daily cup. An Italian study demonstrated that tea diluted by 20% with milk lost all of its antioxidant properties.

The Color of Spring
But since green tea does appear to have the most potent health-promoting effects, you might try buying a box. Good quality green has little resemblance to the bitter Asian restaurant version–it is light, delicious, and the fresh color of spring. Most supermarkets today are responding to the demand for this biological cousin of the beautiful camellia plant by stocking at least one variety. I prefer the organically grown sencha or bancha teas, but try any green tea that you find. Virtually all of them are available in teabags–a convenience that I appreciate.

Tea has had an honorable history here in the Americas–where would we be without the devotion to tea that led to the Boston Tea Party? I say it's time to reinstitute this pleasant, healthful, and historical habit.

Courtesy of www.nutritionadvocate.com

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