Green Tea Is Good For Me

Eric Leech at Tree Hugger

While there is no guarantees, the most recent research suggests that the antioxidant properties in green tea may give some folks a fighting chance at staving off Alzheimer's. Studies at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles suggests that the tea has the effect of reducing plaque in the brain of genetically engineered mice by up to 90 percent, which is truly amazing. This research is currently being taken to human subjects with hopes that the tea will have the same effect on them.

Green tea is a rather inexpensive herb which can be purchased and easily digested daily in the form of various drinks or foods. It has also been shown that green tea may help fight against certain forms of cancer and sun damage from UV rays. The amount of green tea recommended for maximum benefit is generally thought to be four to five cups, however some researchers recommend as much as 10, or as little as two.

I drink four or five cups a day.

Green Tea

From Time magazine.

All it took, says Vlachopoulos, was 6 g of green tea, which amounts to 3 to 4 cups. To make sure the dilation effect was not due to the small amounts of caffeine found in green tea, the group compared the arterial sizes in the green-tea drinkers with those consuming a diluted caffeine beverage and found no change in arterial size in the caffeine drinkers. Even more intriguing, the beneficial effect seems to be long-lasting and cumulative. When the doctors measured the green-tea drinkers' arteries two weeks after daily consumption of the beverage, they found that their vessels were more dilated than they had been at the beginning of the study. "It's something that needs to be investigated, but we think that if someone takes green tea for one or two months, the beneficial effect will be even greater," says Vlachopoulos.

Morning Cup Of Tea

It seems my morning cup of tea is good for me. Of course I knew that. A couple of studies in the news today about eating fruits and vegetables. Seems those old wives tales are true. Where did that knowledge come from? This study even suggests that food can be medicine how revolutionary.

In fact, "foods can be medicine," added Jardine, co-author of a manufacturer-funded study of a "punch" that appeared to reduce the growth of prostate cancer in mice.

Of course you do not have to eat the manufacturer-funded punch. You could just have a berry smoothie. And I all ready drink a hefty four to six cups of green tea a day.