Tea catechins' bioavailability demonstrated by new study

A study published in the journal Nutrition shows that "green tea catechins are more bioavailable than previously observed."


"Bioavailable" means how much of an ingested substance survives digestion and whatnot to remain available for the body to absorb and use.


(For instance, that means more green tea antioxidants to fight glaucoma and other eye ailments.)


In the case of green tea, science had long known that catechins such as EGCG have the ability to fight various afflictions. What was unclear, however, was how much of those green tea catechins actually made it into the body to fight those ailments.


Therein lies the significance of this study: Now we have even more proof that compounds like EGCG really do survive the trip into our bodies.


They are, after all, such hearty compounds. (Pun intended.)



Just looking at a scene like this feels good for my eyes. (From a segment of the documentary Kyushu, Where Japan's Green Tea Grows.)


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea and exercise stave off depression in breast cancer patients, study finds

Dr. Xiao Ou Shu, a researcher at the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, has found that "[b]reast cancer patients who exercise and drink tea on a regular basis may be less likely to suffer from depression than other patients."


Dr. Shu's study examined 1,399 Chinese women living in Shanghai, and "the type of tea [they] most commonly consumed was green tea."


The importance of avoiding depression is that "[d]epression may reduce a patient’s quality of life, increase the length of hospital stays and affect compliance with cancer therapy."



Vanderbilt's Dr. Shu.


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea health benefits wrap-up

News about the health benefits of green tea just keeps coming, and the flurry has been especially heavy of late.


For instance, recently announced findings show that green tea reduces the risk of getting kidney stones, brain disorders, endometrial cancer (the most common gynecologic cancer), and type 2 diabetes, and is also heart healthy to boot.


Little green tea leaf, you are an amazing and hard-working plant.


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea, hangover cure

Regarding hangover cures, Keith Strickland of the B-52s says, "Green Tea is about the best one I have used."


I thought I would share this with you now, instead of tomorrow, when it might be too late.


Happy New Year's, everyone.



A nice, warm cup of hangover cure, waiting for you.


—Mellow Monk

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The $2,500 bottle of green tea

That is a lot to pay for a bottle of green tea.


Not only are quality greens available for much less [hint, hint], but green tea's free-radical-fighting catechins begin breaking down soon after brewing, which is why freshly brewed tea is so much healthier for you.


(Bottled teas that tout their high EGCG content, for instance, have boosted the catechin artificially.)



Billed as "the green tea you enjoy in a wine glass."


—Mellow Monk

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Destress with green tea, suggests college columnist

Over at the University of Wisconsin–River Falls, columnist Laura Krawczyk suggests that her fellow students studying for finals add green tea to their stress-busting arsenal.


Speaking of green tea and stress, here's a video from the last Calm-a-Sutra contest:




—Mellow Monk

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Harvard Women's Health Watch on the benefits of green tea

Harvard Medical School summarizes a recent article in Women's Health Watch that "recognizes the healthy power of tea while helping readers get the most out of their cups."



From a large gallery of beautiful photos of serene Kiyomizu Temple.


—Mellow Monk

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It's official: green tea drinkers are mellower

Once again, science proves something we already knew—that green tea drinkers are mellower.


To be more specific, a study showed that people who drink at least five cups of green tea per day are less likely to suffer from psychological distress.


This finding, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, is just one of the many results gleaned from the "Ohsaki cohort," a group of over 40 thousand people in Japan whose health was monitored over many years.



A nice mellow grove of bamboo. Photo taken in Aso.


—Mellow Monk

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A study to determine the HPV-fighting abilities of green tea

Researchers at the University of Arizona Medical Center are launching a study to see if green tea polyphenols can help fight the human papillomavirus (HPV).



Researchers Sherry Chow and Wade Chew prepare vials for the green tea study.


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea reduces pneumonia risk

Folks, it's getting to the point where even I'm having trouble keeping up with all the research results coming out about the health benefits of green tea.


Here's another one:

Drinking as little as one cup or less of green tea per day was associated with 41 percent less risk of dying from pneumonia among Japanese women, the investigators found.

The findings, they say, "support the possibility" that green tea contains compounds capable of destroying or inhibiting the growth of viruses and microorganisms.

—Mellow Monk

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Green tea halves leukemia risk: study

Yet more recent research points to green tea's cancer-fighting properties.


Results published in the American Journal of Epidemiology show that drinking 5 cups or more per day reduced the risk of leukemia and other blood cancers by one half compared to participants in the over 40,000-person-strong cohort who drank one cup or less per day.


For more information about green tea and leukemia, you can read previous postings in this blog.


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea, acne, and the Kuma River

A blogger called Dr. Zit writes about how simply drinking green tea — not using creams containing green tea, or taking a green tea extract pill — has dramatically improved his skin.



Taken from the shore of a small island in the Kuma River. This is the same spot where we took a recently posted video.


—Mellow Monk

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Vitamin C boosts absorption of green tea antioxidants: study

Cathy Wong at About.com has already done an exemplary job of summarizing a study indicating that vitamin C helps your body absorb more antioxidants from your green tea, so I won't reinvent the wheel.


I will point out, however, that this study is one in a long line of research pointing to this complementarity between green tea and citrus fruits.


I would also be remiss if didn't remind the unfamiliar that there exists an age-old tradition of adding a piece of, say, dried orange or mikan peel to a pot of tea.


Yet more evidence that the ancient ones knew just what they were doing.



Don't throw that away.


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea linked to less cancer in women

From ABC News:

As if you needed another reason to drink green tea: Japanese women, but not Japanese men, who regularly drink 5 or more cups daily appear about 20 percent less likely to develop stomach cancer, study findings hint.

The findings were published in a paper in the journal Gut.



Japan's National Cancer Center, where the study was conducted.


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea may improve bone health

Green tea could strengthen your bones and help prevent osteoporosis and other bone diseases that afflict so many, according to a recent study.


Publishing in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, researchers found that certain green tea polyphenols promote bone formation by boosting the activity of a bone growth enzyme, but without any toxic effects to bone-producing cells.


Promoting the good without introducing the bad—that is truly the ultimate goal of all healing.



Who would guess that such a soft, gentle liquid could be so good for toughening our bones—and our teeth, too.


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea saves teeth

Every cup of green tea you drink each day reduces your chances of periodontal disease—a.k.a. gingivitis—according to a study of nearly a thousand men.



She obviously drinks a lot of green tea.


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea reduces risk of cancer in blood, bone marrow, and lymph nodes

A new study shows that green tea can cut your risk of hematological malignancy—cancer of the blood cells, bone marrow, or lymph nodes—by as much as 50 percent.


The research, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, looked at the health histories and green tea consumption patterns of over 40,000 participants.


The folks who gained this benefit were those who drank 5 cups of green tea or more every day.


In other words, a cup a day just isn't going to cut it—you really have to make green tea a part of your life. The good news, however, is that doing so brings so many other benefits, too.


—Mellow Monk

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Why do you drink tea? Calm-a-Sutra entry by Ryan Gatts

Why Do You Drink Tea? is Ryan Gatts's entry in the 2009 Calm-a-Sutra contest. Ryan's hoping to win the sizable scholarship that the first place prize comes with. Part of the judging is based on the video's popularity on YouTube, so please vote, gentle readers.





—Mellow Monk

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Green tea reduces stroke risk—yet more evidence

Researchers at Australia's Curtin University of Technology have published research results that show that green tea reduces the risk of stroke--specifically ischemic stroke, which accounts for 83 percent of all cases of stroke.


This follows on the heels of other findings also demonstrating the stroke-reducing effects of green tea.


Perhaps from now on it would be easier to report on the ailments that green tea does not help prevent or cure.



How 'bout a nice cup of green tea?


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea may help the brain cope with sleep disorders

Researchers have found that green tea may counteract the negative effects on the brain of sleep disorders such as sleep apnea.


Green tea polyphenols—including, one presumes, EGCG—apparently negate the increased oxidative stress that occurs in the brain when breathing stops temporarily during sleep.



You can also sleep more soundly by switching to green tea from coffee.


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea promotes a lean liver

LiverSupport.com has a good summary—backed up by plenty of journal references—of how green tea is good for your liver.



Regular readers of this blog know that whenever I blog about something visually gross—such as livers—I like to balance things out aesthetically with a photo of a geisha or maiko.


—Mellow Monk

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The online tea course

TeaCourse.com has an an online course all about tea.



Click on the "sign" to learn more.


—Mellow Monk

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The way to tea: It's all about the mellow

Green tea is more than just a beverage—it is the cornerstone of a healthy, mellow way of life.


But the tea can't do all the work. You have to make a little effort, too.


To maximize the mellow during your green tea break, Jennifer Sauer—author of The Way to Tea—suggests following these simple steps [excerpted from a recent issue of Better Homes and Gardens]:

1. Create an atmosphere of relaxation by arranging fresh cut flowers and playing soothing music.
   
   
2. Find a quiet comfortable place on the floor or in a chair by a window so you can benefit from the natural light.
   
   
3. Steep the tea in a small pot to your desired strength. Remember, don't use boiling water on green tea. "You want to extract the nectar contained in the leaf, not cook it" says Pratt.
   
   
4. While the tea is steeping, notice what's going on around you-the light, the temperature, the weather. Don't think; just observe.
   
   
5. Before you take your first sip, give thanks for this quiet moment you have created.
   
   
6. During each subsequent sip give thanks for a different aspect of you life, such as friends, health, children, spouse, job.
   
   
7. On the last sip of tea, smile softly to yourself and say one last sentiment of gratitude, such as, "I give thanks for the great abundance in my life."
   
   
8. As you clean the tea ware, contemplate on how the ritual cleansed your mind and body.
   

—Mellow Monk

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Green chai facial toner recipe

From green beauty expert Julie Gabriel's Green Beauty Guide comes a recipe for making your own green chai facial toner.



Click the pic to see the book's Amazon page.


—Mellow Monk

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The tea sage speaks out

The New Tea Lover's Treasury author and Tea Society founder James Norwood Pratt says:

There is literally nothing better you can do for your physical self than drink tea. It fights everything from tooth decay to cancer. It's impossible to name any one substance that confers as many benefits as tea.

Well said, Brother Pratt.


The Tea Geek has recently interviewed Mr. Pratt.





—Mellow Monk

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Green tea fights leukemia, study shows

I blogged about green tea and leukemia previously.


Now, a study conducted at the Mayo Clinic has found additional evidence of green tea's leukemia-fighting properties.


The active ingredient believed to be responsible for shrinking tumors in the study is, of course EGCG (epigallocatechin gallate), which is found only in green tea.


The findings were published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.



And now for something completely different: An amazing photograph of Saturn's rings.


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea promotes weight loss by altering the behavior of fat cells, say researchers

A study published in the journal Nutrition & Metabolism shows that white tea extract "induces lipolytic activity and inhibits adipogenesis in human subcutaneous (pre)-adipocytes."


Translation: Something in the tea causes fat cells to produce less fat and to destroy fat they have already created.


The researchers know what that "something" is—epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG):

These effects were, at least in part, mediated by EGCG . . .

Since white tea is a type of green tea, there is every reason to believe that these results apply to green tea, as well.


In fact, there is a large body of research on green tea's slimming effects.

[Edit: "Large body" pun in fat-related article completely unintentional.]


So what are you waiting for? Start sipping, everyone!



And now for something completely different—goldfish jelly.


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea for cancer prevention

Health News has a concise rundown on green tea and cancer prevention, written by Dr. Cary A. Presant, MD:

[The green tea polyphenol] EGCG was shown to induce programmed cell death (apoptosis) in cancer cells growing in culture, and also reduce cancer cell growth in test tubes. It also was found to reduce growth receptors on cancer cells, so that cancer cells could not grow in response to chemicals that stimulate cancer cell reproduction.

Only a small portion of a huge, beautiful panoramic shot of the Philippines' magnificent Pana Banaue rice terraces.


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea's theanine comes into focus

Beverage makers are focusing in on a substance in green tea that improves mental focus and alertness:

Loaded with caffeine and taurine to stimulate the central nervous system, energy drinks have become the go-to solution when you need a quick, energizing pick-me-up.

But sometimes energy isn't what you need. Concentration and attention can start to fade in the face of those midafternoon doldrums and a host of distractions. Something to enhance focus would do the trick.

Some beverage manufacturers say they have just the solution. They're touting a new kind of drink that emphasizes focus over ferocity. The key substance is the amino acid L-theanine, which preliminary research suggests might calm the brain to enhance concentration and mental stamina.

Green tea naturally contains just the right amounts of both caffeine and theanine, so why not get them naturally?



There exists a magical plant whose infusion contains all of the things in these bottled drinks that you need—and none of the things you don't.


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea could be a new weapon against ALS

A Canadian high school student recently won big at a national science fair by showing that green tea may slow the progression of the neurodegenerative disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).


Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), an antioxidant found only in green tea,

increased the growth of special motor neuron cells in mice by 16 to 30 per cent, according to some of the teenager’s test results.

That means there is a possibility the antioxidant might slow down the wasting effects of the disease, which would be good news for ALS sufferers.

The Monk has a great uncle who died of ALS, so this issue hits close to home. Then again, that makes these research findings even more comforting.



ALS is also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, named after the Yankee slugger who delivered his famous "Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth" speech when the disease forced him into retirement.


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea ingredient blocks HIV infection

Recently published research explains how, at a molecular level, EGCG—a tea catechin found only in green tea—can block infection by the virus that causes AIDS.



Ilona Haube (center), University of Hamburg researcher and lead author of the groundbreaking study.


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea lime pie

From an article at the Detroit News on the benefits of green tea comes this recipe for green tea lime pie.


(The recipe is taken from the book Tea For You, by the beautiful Tracy Stern.)

Key Lime Pie

If you can't find Key limes, don't worry. This recipe is all about the flavors of green tea and tart lime.

2 tablespoons finely grated lime zest

5 large egg yolks

1 1/4 cups sweetened condensed milk

1/3 cup brewed green tea

1/2 cup strained fresh lime juice

11 full graham crackers, processed to fine crumbs (1 1/4 cups)

3 tablespoons sugar

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

3/4 cup heavy cream

Whisk the zest and yolks in a medium bowl until the yolks are tinted light green, about 2 minutes. Beat in the condensed milk, green tea, and then the lime juice. Set the mixture aside at room temperature to let it thicken.

Adjust an oven rack to the center position and heat the oven to 325 degrees.

Mix the crumbs and sugar in a medium bowl. Add the butter and stir with a fork until well blended. Transfer the mixture to a 9-inch pie pan and press the crumbs over the bottom and up the sides of the pan to form an even crust. Bake until lightly browned and fragrant, about 15 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and cool to room temperature, about 20 minutes.

Pour the lime filling into the crust and bake until the center is set, yet wiggly when jiggled, 15 to 17 minutes. Cool to room temperature on a wire rack and then refrigerate until well chilled, at least 3 hours.

Up to 2 hours before serving, whip the cream until medium peaks form. Spread the whipped cream evenly over the pie with a rubber spatula. Return to the refrigerator.

To serve, slice the pie and transfer to serving plates. Makes 1 9-inch pie; serves 8.

Tea expert Sally Mimura Sarin pours a cuppa.


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea zaps zits

Did you know that green tea can treat acne? You do now:

Green tea is said to work best as a home remedy for acne when used from the inside out—in other words when you drink it. . . . Also, simply placing a warm tea bag on acne lesions helps provide instant soothing effects, helps draw out toxins and promotes faster healing.

Cherry blossoms in Washington, D.C. Click the above pic for a supermassive, superspectacular panorama.


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea and amyloidosis

Consider yourself fortunate if you have never even heard of amyloidosis. The good news, however, is that green tea is emerging as a possible treatment for the disease.



Just as every snowflake is unique, no grain of sand is the same as any other. (After talking about amyloidosis, I had to post a cheery picture.)


—Mellow Monk

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Calm-A-Sutra tea video contest

Attention, all up-and-coming filmmakers: The Tea Council of the USA is having its third annual scholarship competition, Calm-A-Sutra of Tea, which "challenges college students to create a one- to two-minute video about the positive benefits of black, green, white or oolong tea in order to win a $15,000 scholarship."


Not bad, eh?


Here is last year's winner, titled "Interrogation." It's actually quite funny and very well done.





—Mellow Monk

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Now you're cooking with tea

This article on using tea in cooking includes a recipe for green tea eggs—which is also recommended in The Low-Carb Cookbook.



Click for more examples of the work of Russian artist Alex Andreev, who calls his style "hermetic.”


—Mellow Monk

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Is green tea an appetite suppressant?

Green tea may be a natural appetite suppressant, according to a study published in Clinical Nutrition.



A night scene of Yokohama's‘ Minato Mirai district.


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea protects the liver

A study published recently in the Journal of Biomedical Science found that green tea can reduce or prevent acute liver injury.



Well I just couldn't post a picture of livers, now could I?


—Mellow Monk

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Be mellow at work. You’ll reduce your stress and your chances of losing your job.

By not worrying about losing your job, you will not only avoid unnecessary stress but also improve your chances of not losing your job.


So just sit back, brew up some green tea and relax.


But don't forget to get some work done—that will improve your prospects, too.



What, me worry?


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea, guardian of the emperor

In traditional Chinese medicine, the heart is considered the emperor of all the body's organs. And so green tea, with all of its cardio-protective effects, can be considered the Emperor's guard—a most sacred duty indeed.



I would feel like an emperor gazing down at this magnificent sight somewhere in the Sino-Tibetan mountains.


—Mellow Monk

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Now more than ever—the simplicity of tea

The more complicated our world gets, the more we seek out respite in pockets of simplicity.


Thus even "captains of the Internet" and former quad-cappuccino-quaffing techie types are discovering the soul-soothing tranquility of tea.



Business guru Tim Ferriss prepares a pot of mellow.


—Mellow Monk

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As soon as it's bottled, green tea starts losing its catechins

A study published recently in the Journal of Food Science found that brewed green tea in storage lost a "highly significant" 32% of its catechins after 6 months.


When you consider how long it takes for a batch of bottled tea to be trucked from the factory to the warehouse to the supermarket to your home, it is easy to see that that by the time you actually twist the top off your bottled green tea, it will most certainly not contain the amounts of EGCG and other catechins indicated on the label.


This is yet another reason to brew your own tea.


If you want, you can read the entire article (PDF).



So remember—finish your cup of green tea before you head off for Greece.


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea may help keep gums healthy

A study published in the Journal of Periodontology found that the more green tea you drink, the less likely you are to get gum disease.


Researchers postulate that this is because the polyphenols in green tea inhibit the bacteria that cause gum disease.



Muko Shrine in Kyoto. (More great pics here.) What, did you want to see pictures of gum disease?


—Mellow Monk

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Tea, ritual, taste, and relaxation

It is not just your imagination—your tea really does taste better from your favorite cup.


The psychologist quoted in the linked-to article says that "Caffeine is very much a drug of reward and like any addict, people develop passions on how the drug is delivered."


Yikes. That makes we green tea drinkers sound like a bunch of junkies. Instead, I think that the relaxing ritual of preparing green tea really does make your tea taste better. That is because the ritual relaxes us, allowing us to focus on the flavor and appreciate it more.


The psychologist is right about one thing, however: Green tea is a great way to reward yourself.



That cup may not be your cup of tea, but to each his own, yes?


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea and lung cancer

Lung cancer is a particularly nasty form of the disease because it can spread very quickly to other organs in the body. This spreading—called metastasis—happens when cancer cells break away from the main tumor, latch onto another organ, and begin reproducing until they have formed another tumor, after which the process starts all over again.


Scientists at the University of California at Los Angeles have reported that green tea could help slow the spread of lung cancer—thereby improving the prognosis for treatment—by reducing the migration of the cells themselves.


Specifically, green tea polyphenols were shown to trigger molecular changes in tumor cells that made them "stickier" and therefore less able to detach from the main tumor and float away into the blood stream. The polyphenols also reduced the cancer cells' motility.


If you can make sense of this sentence

In particular we found upregulation of several genes that modulate actin remodeling and cell migration, including lamin A/C.

then why not dive into the full paper (PDF) ... and let me know what it means, would you?



... is where our tea is grown.


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea, PAHs, and breast cancer

At a recent forum on breast cancer, Dr. Gail Sonenshein gave a presentation on how a green tea catechin can help prevent breast cancer.


According to Dr. Sonenshein — a professor of biochemistry at the University of Boston School of Medicine — epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) stops polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from turning healthy breast cells into cancerous ones.


Long known as carcinogens, PAHs are generated from the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels, polluted air or water, cigarette smoke, and charcoal-broiled foods.


Dr. Sonenshein's work is called "one of the most detailed molecular characterizations of how green tea may be an effective risk-reduction strategy for breast cancer prevention."


—Mellow Monk

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Get more from your green tea

Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) and other disease-fighting catechins quickly lose their power in stored tea, and even more so in your intestine. The solution is twofold: brew your own tea and add citrus juice to it.


More about green tea and citrus here.



Oh, sorry. I thought you said, "Get more out of your green tree."


—Mellow Monk

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Daily tea could prevent strokes

A researcher at the University of California Los Angeles reports that drinking tea every day could reduce the risk of stroke by as much as 21 percent.


The linked-to article also has an accompanying video report.



In addition to green tea, making regular excursions to mellowing places like art museums is another way to reduce the stress that contributes to strokes.


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea promotes weight loss

The catechins in green tea can help you lose weight by boosting your metabolism, increasing the rate of heat production and fat oxidation.


In fact, I've read that drinking 4 cups of green tea burns the equivalent of 50 calories—which adds up to 350 calories per week.


Not bad for a humble leaf.



Imagine how many calories you'd burn just walking to the bus stop if you lived in Tiger Leaping Gorge.


—Mellow Monk

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Mindfully mellow

Mindfulness—focusing on the here-and-now, on what is going on all around you at this moment—is a fundamental element of meditation, including Zen. This state of mind is also key to the green tea ceremony and to happiness in general.


In contrast to mindfulness is rumination—obsessing over the negative—and it's not conducive to mellowness.


When you brew your green tea, do so mindfully. Watch the water boil. Listen to it boil. Take in the aroma of the dry leaves. Feel the warmth of your teapot or cup as the tea brews. Before sipping, breath in the luscious aroma. Sip, and focus on the flavor tingling in your mouth. Then feel the tea's warmness travel into your belly.


There. Don't you feel better already?



We can all create our own mindful ceremony whenever we drink green tea.


—Mellow Monk

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Get happy. Now.

If you're feeling down, there are ten things you can start doing now to fix that.


Green tea will also help boost your mellowness factor.



These Tibetan monks seem happy.


—Mellow Monk

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Garlic chicken soup and green tea

When you have a cold, a bowl of chicken soup really and truly does help. But to boost the cold-fighting power of this old-fashioned remedy even more, add garlic:

“Adding garlic, a fresh clove or two minced, to hot chicken soup just before you're ready to sit down and eat it really does help,” [Healing Remedies co-author] Lydia Wilen said. Then sip a cup of green tea to take away garlic breath, she suggested.

And green tea doesn't just work on garlic breath, but bad breath in general.



Running away from garlic breath. (Click on the pic to see more "impression of movement" photographs.


—Mellow Monk

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Green + exercise = goodbye belly fat

From NaturalNews.com:

New research published in the Journal of Nutrition reveals that consuming green tea along with three hours of exercise a week results in accelerate[d] loss of body fat around the abdominal region compared to exercise alone.

You can read the original abstract here.



A fog-bound bridge in Vancouver. (Well, I just couldn't post a picture of belly fat, could I.)


—Mellow Monk

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Hot green tea is good for a cold—in an unexpected way

We already knew that the antioxidants and vitamin C in green tea can help you fight a cold.


But researchers have now found another way that hot green tea may also help your body fight illness—just by being hot. Researchers at Cardiff University were surprised by the finding, and still aren't sure why hot beverages work better than their cold counterparts. It could be the sinus-opening effects of the steam, or it could be psychological, they speculate.


But here's one possible explanation they missed: the heat itself.


After all, when you are sick, your body diverts a lot of energy to your immune system. That's why your sick body feels so weak.


Your body also uses energy to make heat, so consuming a hot beverage may take some of that heat-generating burden off your body, allowing it to better fight germs.


And to give your green tea an additional cold-fighting boost, add your favorite citrus juice.



Feel a cold coming on? Start brewing green tea, then.


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea may inhibit HIV

Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children's Hospital have found that Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG)—an antioxidant found only in green tea—"appears to prevent HIV-1 (the virus associated with AIDS) from infecting cells in the immune system and could prove a valuable part of treatment for the disease."


—Mellow Monk

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Breast cancer risk reduced by green tea: study

A study recently published in the Journal of Nutrition concludes that "regular drinking of green tea was associated with a slightly decreased risk for breast cancer."



The Yuyuan Old Town area of Shanghai, where the Journal of Nutrition researchers surveyed and compared the health histories of green-tea drinkers and non-green-tea drinkers.


—Mellow Monk

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Leukemia risk halved by green tea

Appearances can be deceiving. Case in point: Humble-looking green tea is so powerfully good for you that a recent study showed it can cut the risk of leukemia by half.


The study—led by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health—examined nearly 900 participants and concludes that "[d]rinking sufficient amounts of tea, especially green tea, which contains more catechins than oolong tea and black tea, may reduce the risk of leukemia."


The full version of the paper, which was published in the journal Cancer Causes and Control, is available here.



Humble but healthy.


—Mellow Monk

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Green tea improves brain performance

This is good news for a lot of people: In a study done at Oxford University, green tea was one of three foods found to enhance cognitive performance, the other two foods being red wine and chocolate.


An abstract of the original study is available here.



Brain-protecting plants ready to be rendered into tea.


—Mellow Monk

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