Green (and black) tea contains polyphenols, flavonids, flavonols, catechins, theaflavins, thearubigins and gallic acid, substances that may lower blood pressure and blood cholesterol levels, stabalize blood sugar, kill decay-causing bacteria, block the action of many carcinogens, and inhibit tumor growth.

      In papers presented at the 9/98 Washington, D.C. meeting of the Second International Scientific Symposium on Tea & Human Health, researchers concluded that tea might:

      * protect against oral, digestive, lung and colorectal cancers
      * have equal or greater antioxidant power than many fruits and vegetables
      * reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke
      * have many of the same benefits, whether black or green
      * be able to offer protection against pre-cancerous conditions (epithelial; lung)
[Dr. Junshi Chen, Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine; Dr. Fung Lung Chung, American Health Foundation, Vahalla, NY; Dr. J.E. Klaunig, Indiana U. School of Medicine; Dr. Roderick Dashwood, Oregon State U.]

      "Tea is one of the single best cancer fighters you can put in your body."
      --- Dr. Mitchell Gaynor, director of medical oncology at Strang Cancer Prevention Center in NYC; co-author, "Dr. Gaynor's Cancer Prevention Program"

      "Tea is the second most consumed beverage in the world, and it's beneficial impacts on such major problems as heart disease and cancer could be extremely significant."
      --- Dr. John Weisbrger, chairman of the symposium and senior member of the American Health Foundation

      ECGC, a polyhenol found in green tea, inhibits the activity of the enzyme (protein) urokinase. In cancer, urokinase helps dissolve the proteins in cells, making room for the tumor and blood vessels that feed it.
      "If you stop this process, you are starving the tumor to death.
I was not really a believer in those common sense or home remedies, but when I saw (it) on my computer and I saw it in my laboratory, I drank my first cup of tea."
      --- Dr. Jerry Jankun, prof. of urology, the Medical College of Ohio in Toledo (Nature: 6/97)
[Dr. Woodson Merrell of Columbia U. and Beth Israel Medical Center drinks one to two cups of green tea each morning and one to two during the day.]

      Dr. Janku estimates people _can_ drink up to 10 cups of green tea/day, for a total of 1.5 grams of ECGC, "which is a lot of inhibitor".

      Studies from the U. of Kansas (1999) indicate Epigallocatechingallate (ECGC) is 100+ times more effective than vitamin C and 25 times more potent than vitamin E in preventing cellular (DNA) oxidative damage related to cancer risk.
[Drs. Dorothy Moore and D. James Moore, Purdue U.; American Society For Cell Biology/San Francisco]

      Studies from the American Health Foundation an independant nonprofit research organization that focuses on the relationship between habits and health), the Chinese Academy of Pventive Medicine in Beijing, and the Mitsu Morin Compant in Fujieda City, Japan, indicate that green tea extracts can inhibit skin and esophageal cancers (inhibiting the proliferatioof pre-cancerous cells), and protect arteries agaist the damage caused by high-fat diets.
      The AHF's John Weisburger reports that tea helps to neutralize heteocyclic amines (HCAs - carcinogens formed in meat by grilling) and nitrosamines.

      Tea leaves are stabalized by moist or dry heat, which destroys the enzyme polyphenoloxidase and prevents the oxidation of polyphenols (includes catechins), which are anticarcinogenic.
      In black tea, catechins comprise 3-10% of the dry matter; oolong tea, 8-20%, and green tea, 30-42% catechin content.
      In a recent study (Carcinogenesis, Jan. 2000), both black and green tea kept healthy cells from turning malignant after exposure to carcinogens.

      Studies from Italy have shown that a cup of strong black tea raises blood antioxidant activity 50 percent in approx. 50 minutes.

      Polyphenols may prevent infection from the influenza virus.
One Japanese study from 1997 found that people who gargled w/black tea twice a day from October to March were significantly less likely to catch the flu than a control group.

      Green and black tea components help fight infections, even those caused by antibotic-resistant bacteria. Lab studies show that Staphylococcus aureus (the resistant superbug) is made more vulnerable to immune system attack when tea components are present.

      U. of California at Berkeley scientists foud that approx. 10 chemicals in green tea attack Strep. mutans, the primary bacteria that causes tooth decay. Green tea antibacterial flavor compounds are twice as potent against bacteria when combined as opposed to alone.

      Tea (as well as grapes, red wine, onions and apples) is rich in flavonoids:
      "Flavonoids have been studied in animals against powerul chemical carinogens...methyl nitroso urea (MNU), for example, is a chemical that causes breast cancer in mice and rats. Flavonoids intercept the MNU before it hits the target in cells, sort of like Superman flying to the rescue and stopping the meteorite before it hits the earth."

      "About 4,000 flavonoids exist, and all may have slightly different biological effects."
      --- Dr. John Folts, U. of Wisconsin Medical School

      A study by Dr. Mchael Gaziano, a heart specialist at the Harvard Medical School and affiliated with Brigham and Woman's Hospital in Boston, presented at a Royal society of Medicine conference in London (7/99), concluded that drinking at least one cup of tea per day could cut the risk of heart attack by 44 percent. (!)
      The study involved black tea leaves (black tea may contain more powerful flavonoids than green).
      "This is, in my view, quite an astonishing outcome. These are very exciting results."
      --- Dr. Catherine Rice-Evans, antioxidant researcher at King's College, London

      Dutch physicians reported in the 10/21/93 issue of the Lancet that, in a five-year study of 805 men between 65 and 84 whose main source of flavonoids was tea, apples and onions, the higher the flavonoid intake, the lower the risk of death from coronary heart disease.
      Men who consumed four cups of tea/day, along with one or more apples, cut their risk of death from heart disease by 50 percent.
[Protection also appeared to be conferred against the risk of having a first heart attack.]

      Average flavonoid intake among the participants was only about one-fourth of a typical American's consumption of the chemical.
      Flavonoids may also "mop up" toxins formed post oxygen-cholesterol interaction.

Re-analysis of the Seven Countries Study from the 1960's now credits tea antioxidants for the low rates of heart disease in some countries, particularly Japan. Tea helps neutralize the ability of "bad" LDL cholesterol to clog arteries.

      The U.S. Dept. of Agriculture reported in 2000 that both black and green tea make insulin more "sensitive" or stronger at controlling blood sugar.

      The tannins in tea trap iron and reduce its absorption.
  This is an important property, as Jane Brody reported in her New York Times Personal Health" column (3/5/97):
  "There is growing evidence that even people without an inherited disorder can develop problems associated with iron overload. Iron is a catalyst for the formation of free radicals, highly active chemicals implicated in heart disease, cancer and cellular aging."
      Dr. Eugene D. Weinberg, professor emeritus of microbiology at Indiana U. in Bloomington, who has studied the effects of iron for three decades, pointed out that both cancer cells and infectious organisms need iron from their hosts to grow. Cancer cells can live in a semidormant state for a long time, but they cannot multiply without iron and oxygen from blood...
      ...one study found that the bacteria that cause Legionnaire's disease would not survive if the level of iron in lung cells was very low...
      ...Finnish reearchers believe that iron's role in heart disease may involve the oxidation of LDL lipoprotein into artery clogging material..."

      Case Western Reserve U. reports that green tea compounds prevent the onset of arthritis in mice.
      An American Journal of Clinical Nutrition study (7/99) showed women age 65 to 75 years who drank at least one cup of black tea/day, had significantly higher bone density in the spine and thighs than women who didn't (the spine and this, along with the hips, are common locations for fractures among older women with osteoporosis).
      Speculation is that tea polyphenols neutralize free radicals that would otherwise destroy healthy cells in search of chemical stability.

      Extracts of green tea have been observed to cause a 4 percent rise in the body's daily energy output. Polyphenols make the body burn fat to generate heat.

      One black tea bag in five ounces of boiling water, brewed for five minutes and ingested, provides 1200 ORAC units of antioxidants - about a third of the RDA (Tufts U. researchers).

      Dr. Lester Miltscher, PhD., a medical biochemist at the U. of Kansas, analyzed bottled teas and found Lipton's Green Tea & Passion Fruit, and Snapple Green Tea w/Lemon have nearly the same antioxidant levels as the freshly brewed varieties.

      Oregon State U. in Corvallis researchers found that white tea (named for its higher number of whitish buds) has the same type of polyphenols as green, but in greater concentrations.
      Rat and in vitro experiments show white tea's increased efficiency in blocking cancer formation when compared with green and black teas.
      White tea is rapidly steamed and dried, while green tea is steamed and fired before being rolled. Black and oolong tea get additional flavor and darker colors from more heat-processing of the leaves.

[The mint family of plants (pepperint, spearmint, pennroyal, etc.) are rich sources of antioxidants, and pepperint tea is a popular method of consumption.]