Health Benefits of Tea

From Foodconsumer.org

As reported on Foodconsumer.org Friday February 22, 2008, a study conducted at the National Neuroscience Institute in Singapore reported that drinking at least 23 cups of black tea a month may slash the risk of Parkinson's disease by 71%.

Study participants, 63,257 Chinese men and women in Singapore, were surveyed about their tea drinking habits when entering the study. Diet and caffeine was ruled out as having no impact on the results and researchers reported, "Ingredients in black tea other than caffeine appear to be responsible for the beverage's inverse association with Parkinson's disease."

The results, published in the December 2007 issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology, recorded 57 incidents of Parkinson's disease between 1993 and 2005, suggesting that drinking black tea may cut the risk of Parkinson's disease.

From the Associated Press

LONDON - Drinking at least one cup of tea a day could cut the risk of heart attack by 44 percent, according to new research presented Thursday.

The beneficial results probably result from the powerful amounts of natural substances in tea known as flavonoids, vitamin like nutrients that make blood cells less prone to clotting, researchers say.

Flavonoid also are one of the most powerful antioxidants, or substances that offset the damaging effects of oxygen in the body. Scientists recently have become excited about the potential benefits of flavonoid, which also are found in fruits and vegetables and are famously connected to the heart-healthy effect of red wine.

While earlier studies have suggested the tea-drinking could be good for the heart, the latest findings are the most comprehensive and indicate the most dramatic effect.

"This is, in my view, quite an astonishing outcome," said Dr. Catherine Rice-Evans, an antioxidant researcher at King's College, London, who was not connected with the study. "These are very exciting results."

The study by Dr. Michael Gaziano, a heart specialist at the Harvard Medical School-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, was presented at a Royal Society of Medicine conference in London.

It examined 340 men and women who had suffered heart attacks and matched them by age, sex and neighborhood with people, who had never had heart attacks. It then investigated their coffee and tea-drinking habits during the course of a year.

The study involved regular tea from black tea leaves, as opposed to green or herbal teas. Black tea contains more powerful flavonoid than green tea, while herbal teas are not known to contain any flavonoid, scientist say.

Other studies have shown that adding milk, sugar or lemon to the tea does not diminish the effect of the flavonoid. There also is no difference between drinking it hot or cold, or preparing with loose tea leaves, tea bags or granulated crystals, said Dr. Paul Quinlan, a biochemist who heads the Brook Bond tea company's health research unit.

The study was adjusted for factors that could have skewed the results, such as smoking, exercise, alcohol intake and family history of heart trouble.

Total calories consumed, intake of fatty foods and body mass index - which compares the girth of people of different heights to determine obesity - was about the same across the board.

Few of the study subjects drank one beverage exclusively, so they were categorized by their strong preferences.

Gaziano found that those who drank one or more cups of tea a day slashed their risk of heart attack by 44 percent, compared with those who did not drink tea. The study did not compare the benefits of one cup versus two, three or four.

However, the question of how much tea to drink, and how strong it needs to be brewed to get the greatest heart benefits, is still open to debate.

From the Associated Press

Drinking tea, 2 -3 cups per day, could add years to your life. English breakfast, Formosa Oolong or Chinese Gunpowder whatever you choose. A number of recent studies have shown that black, oolong and green tea (not herbals) can prevent digestive cancers, and may help to prevent heart disease. Tea's secret - powerful polyphenols, these chemicals have potent antioxidant properties. Polyphenols deactivate potential cancer causing agents like the carcinogenic compounds found in charred red meat and neutralize tissue-damaging free radicals. Swedish scientist recently found that green tea significantly prevents new blood-vessel growth, an effect that may stop cancerous tumor onset.

Researchers at Harvard Medical School have shown that consuming as little as a cup daily may reduce the risk of a heart attack by 44%. And if that was not reason enough to be drinking tea, polyphenols also fight plaque-causing bacteria and green and black tea contain cavity fighting fluoride. In order to gain the most polyphenols drink fresh tea not instant or bottled teas. Steep for 3 -5 minutes. The highest level of polyphenols will be present in your first cup (84%), although you will still benefit from reusing tea leaves the second infusion will yield 13% potency. So drink to your health, with a big smile!

From Healthe

Italian researchers have shown compounds found in green tea may prevent the development of prostate cancer in men with a pre-cancerous condition.

Doctor Saverio Bettuzzi from the University of Parma in Italy has reported back after a one-year study, which found only one man out of a group of 32 receiving Green Tea Catechins developed prostate cancer - a rate of only 3 percent. In contrast, nine out of 30 men treated with placebo developed prostate cancer, at the expected rate of 30 percent.

Dr Bettuzzi told the American Association for Cancer Research that Green Tea Catechins (GTCs) may be the answer.

"The interest in GTCs and other polyphenols (antioxidants found in many plants) derives from traditional Chinese medicine, but the Mediterranean diet is very rich in vegetables, thus providing high levels of polyphenols, and lower rates of prostate cancer are found in that region as well," he pointed out.

These results support research by Curtin University in Western Australia which has also shown that long-term consumption of green tea can help prevent prostate cancer, which kills one in 11 Australian men.

Professor Colin Binns, who studied a sample of Chinese men who had imbibed green tea for over 20 years, found they were two-thirds less likely to develop prostate cancer.

Buddhist monks first espoused the medicinal power of green tea as far back as 800 AD. In his book, 'Maintaining Health by Drinking Tea', one monk, Eisai, wrote, "Tea has an extraordinary power to prolong life. Tea is the elixir that creates the mountain-dwelling immortal." However it took Westerners a few more centuries to catch on to the tea's health benefits.

Although all teas come from the same botanical source, green tea is unique because of the way it is processed. Freshly picked black tea leaves are 'withered' indoors and allowed to oxidize, whereas green tea leaves are steamed and parched, which better preserves their natural active substances. Steeping green tea in hot water for five minutes can release up to 80% of the leaves' catechins.

Surveys of Japanese tea drinkers have found that those who consume four to six cups of green tea per day have lower levels of breast, oesophageal, liver, and lung and skin cancer. Professor Binns recommends three to four cups of green tea per day as a healthy recipe, but also warns that no tea is a magical cure for cancer. Green vegetables, which are also high in antioxidants, could be equally important in helping our bodies stop free radicals from damaging our cells.

From The Associated Press

According to a report published in the Archives of Dermatology, Green Teamay help fight skin cancer. The study states that polyphenols, already proven to neutralize cancer-causing chemicals, were found to have anticarcinogenic potential for skin also. Researchers speculate that one day green tea enhanced skin products may help prevent skin disorders.

Listed in the order of greatest amount to least amount:

Isoorientin
Orientin	a potent free radical scavenger.
Aspalathin	found only in Rooibos and early studies indicate that it will contribute to good health.
Vitexin
Rutin	found in buckwheat and some fruits and vegetables, helps to maintain the strength of capillary walls.
Isovitexin
Isoquercitirin
Hyperoside
Luteolin	Potent antioxidant and studies have found that causes cancer cells to commit suicide and inhibited proliferation of thyroid and colon cancer cells in vitro (test tube).
Quercetin	Potent antioxidant and studies have found that causes cancer cells to commit suicide and inhibited proliferation of thyroid and colon cancer cells in vitro (test tube). Studies also found quercetin decreased primary tumor growth and prevented metastasis in a model of pancreatic cancer.
Chrysoeriol	This is only a small percentage of the total polyphenol content of a serving of Rooibos, which can be up to 80 milligrams for a single cup, 8 oz.

Aspalthin is a unique polyphenol and the Rooibos plant is the only known natural source. Aspalathin, a monomeric flavonoid, is found in great abundance in Rooibos and early (in vitro or test tube ) studies indicate that it contributes to the overall antioxidant abilities in Rooibos.

From The Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS - A nice cup of tea might just be good for the heart, a study sponsored by the tea industry suggests.

Although it is too soon to elevate tea to health food status, Boston University researchers found it may help the arteries work better when people have heart disease.

Several studies have found that regular tea drinkers seem to have a lower risk of hear attacks. However, it is still unclear whether this is actually the case or how tea might help the hear.

In a new study, doctors had people drink tea regularly while carefully measuring the effects on their bodies. The work was financed by the North America Tea Trade Health Research Association and presented Monday at a meeting of the American Heart Association.

"Drinking tea reverses an important underlying abnormality of blood vessel function that is related to heart disease and stroke." said Dr. Joseph A. Vita.

People with heart disease often have a defect in which the lining of their blood vessels fails to relax quickly in times of stress to allow more blood flow. The researchers studied 50 men and women who had this defect.

All were asked to drink four 8 ounce cups of tea a day for a month. Then they drank four cups of water a day for another month.

They found the response of their blood vessels to the stress of a blood pressure cuff become normal during the month of tea drinking. There was no change when they drank water.

Vita said it is too soon to urge tea drinking as a treatment for heart disease.

Just how tea might be good for the heart or the circulatory system is unclear, though some suspect it is chemicals called flavinoids, which give tea its taste.