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For Americans seeking a healthy lifestyle, tea holds extraordinary promise. While additional research is needed to clarify some ambiguities, the overall trend suggests tea is a good health-food candidate. So says the Harvard Health Letter, October 2000. For details, read on. Heart disease is our number one killer disease. As many as 500,000 people die of heart disease each year in the U.S. The heart muscle needs a constant supply of oxygen and nutrients from blood carried through coronary arteries. Clogged arteries inhibit the heart’s supply of oxygen and nutrients. Arteries become clogged through the buildup of plaque (a mix of cholesterol, fat, bloodclots, etc.) and can be blocked completely if a piece of plaque breaks off and gets stuck in the artery. Then, downstream heart tissue will be starved of oxygen and nutrients. Various studies suggest that tea plays a role in reducing cholesterol levels. In one study, researchers found that women age 55 or older who drank as little as a cup or two of black tea a day, were 54 percent less likely to have severe atherosclerosis, which can lead to heart attack or stroke, than those that did not. The more tea they drank, the less their risk, according to this study published in a 1999 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine. This outcome could be because the antioxidants in tea (flavonoids) prevent “bad” (LDL, low-density lipoprotein) cholesterol from promoting the plaque build-up that clogs arteries. Other studies add evidence of support to this conclusion. In Japan, researchers found that cholesterol levels of subjects were inversely related to the consumption of green tea. Researchers in China found that tea helped to decrease the amount of cholesterol in the artery walls. It even helped break down clots that had already formed. A Norwegian study published in the January 1997 American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed that as tea consumption levels went up, cholesterol levels went down. Finally, some observational studies of tea drinkers suggest they have fewer heart attack rates than comparable sets of people who don’t drink tea. For example, researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston published a case-control study in the American Journal of Epidemiology, 1999, showing that people who drank at least one cup of tea a day had a 44% lower risk of heart attack. Lab and animal studies also suggest that flavonoids, antoxidants found in tea, may also protect against cancer. The July 1996 issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology published a study of more than 35,000 post menopausal women that showed those who drank at least two cups of black tea a day were 40 percent less likely to develop urinary cancer and 68 percent less likely to develop cancer in the digestive tract than women who did not drink tea. Other research shows that tea may be helpful in the fight against cancers of the stomach, bladder, esophagus and prostate.A study in China even concluded that smokers who drink tea have a lower incidence of lung cancer. If tea reduces cancer risk, it may be because its flavonoids attack on three fronts. First, they prevent free radicals from damaging DNA, nipping cancer initiation in the bud. Second, they seem to prevent uncontrolled cell growth, slowing cancer development. And third, certain flavonoids may destroy cancer cells without harming the surrounding healthy cells. When Japanese researchers combined cancer medications with flavonoids, the treatment was 20 times more effective than cancer drugs alone, according to a study published in the March 1998 issue of the Japanese Journal of Cancer Research. Flavonoids are ubiquitous in the plant world, but tea is an especially rich source and tea drinking can easily fit into a pattern of daily consumption. It’s practically like eating fruits and vegetables. Letting the tea steep for 3 to 5 minutes extracts 69 - 85% of the flavonoids. Just remember that flavonoids degrade so the tea should be drunk without delay. And be aware that flavonoids are not found in bottled tea. Many of the studies showing that tea is protective against cancer were done in Asia where people generally drink green tea, Some research has shown that green tea has more of the powerful flavonoids called catechins than does black tea. However USDA researchers tested several brands of black tea and found substantial levels of four different catechins. For British ladies, afternoon tea appears to promote healthy bones. A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, April 2000, involved over 1200 women living in Cambridge England. Among the women were over 1100 tea drinkers and 120 non-tea drinkers, all between the ages of 65 and 76. The women completed questionnaires regarding their health and lifestyle. Each also had her bone mineral density (BMD) measured to assess bone strength in the spine and the hip area where breaks most often occur. Tea drinkers had significantly greater bone density measurements. These findings were independent of smoking status, use of hormone replacement therapy, coffee drinking, and whether or not milk was added to tea. When milk was added, BMD was much higher. The study author suggests that tea has components that weakly mimic the effect of the female hormone estrogen which may be helpful to older women. Researchers believe that brewing fresh tea leaves provides the most health benefits. If you want stronger tea, add more tea rather than steeping longer. If you want the best health benefits from green teas, steep in hot water, not boiling. In fact, use water that will not be too hot to drink as soon as it is steeped. Steep for 2 to 3 minutes to get the antioxidants into your brew and drink. Then you can resteep the leaves for longer and drink at your leisure.Recent positive health outcomes which appear to be associated with tea drinking include the following: Tea drinkers appear to live longer after a heart attack; Drinking 3 cups of tea each day is associated with 11% lower incidence of heart attacks; Smokers who drank 4 cups of decaf green tea daily had a significant decrease in signs of damage to the cells and heart. Japanese women who were heavy tea drinkers were found to have the least advanced breast cancers and were less likely to have their cancer spread. Most recently we have found on the BBC website (2/15/2003) the description of a British study of the effects of green tea on arthritis. One of the compounds in green tea called EGCG was shown to protect cartilage in tests. This study recommends that individuals drink green tea as a prophylactic to prevent arthritis damage. If you already have fairly severe joint damage it may be too late to do any good by drinking green tea. But if you drink green tea in your younger years it may turn out to be beneficial. Sheffield University, where the study took place, has taken out a patent for the use of EGCG in treating osteoarthritis. More research on the topic will ensue. Drink that green tea!!! Researchers from Univ. of So. California did a study with colleagues at Shanghai Cancer Institute. They followed 18,000 men in Shanghai. When 232 subjects developed stomach or esophageal cancer, they compared them to 772 similar subjects without cancer. Researchers measured the EGC substance produced when tea catchins break down and is excreted in urine. Subjects with more EGC in their urine had a lower rate of cancer. Lead author, Can-Lan Sun, Res. Assoc. at USC And this just in!. Researchers in Boston had a group of 11 subjects drink 5 to 6 cups of black tea each day and another group of 10 drink the same quantity of coffee for a period of 2 or 4 weeks. Two weeks into the study they tested the subjects' blood and found the tea drinkers made five times more interferon after they started drinking tea than before. The coffee drinkers showed no such effect. The thinking is that tea may offer some protection from ailments caused by bacteria. The infection-fighting ability of tea, is attributed to a substance called L-theanine, which is broken down into a group of chemicals called alkylamine antigens. Antigens are substances that produce antibodies to fight infections. This is a pilot study to be followed by more research. (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, April 21-25 issue.) As the evidence mounts the case for regular consumption of tea as a component of a healthy lifestyle becomes stronger and stronger. |
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