Tea is key to good health studies find

START sipping your way to better health. Tea has been used as a folk remedy for 5,000 years -- to aid liver function, destroy typhoid germs, purify the body and preserve mental equilibrium -- and now scientists are discovering it may have all those benefits and a whole lot more. Studies presented at the Fourth International Scientific Symposium on Tea and Human Health, hosted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, this fall showed tea can be key to a healthful diet.

"As a nutrition scientist, I consider tea as a healthy choice for three reasons: It meets hydration needs, it has no calories and it's really rich in phytonutrients (plant-based substances) that we know provide some human health benefits," said Dr. Jeffrey Blumberg, director of the antioxidants research laboratory at Tufts University in Boston, Mass. "Tea has more of the catechins (a group of phytochemicals that act as antioxidants) than any food I am aware of. It is far and away the biggest, richest best source of those phytonutrients, and it's a pleasant, aromatic and flavourful beverage."

We asked Blumberg, co-chairman of the symposium, some questions about tea and health:

Are green, black and Oolong teas equally healthy?

I don't know of any controlled trials comparing the different colours of tea, but all of them come from the same plant, the Camellia sinensis bush, and there is a huge overlap in what we are finding in different studies using different kinds of tea. Most of the observational studies use green tea in Japan and China and black tea in the U.S., India and Great Britain, but they all show the same results. One study looked at models of digestion and found that in the gut, bacteria and enzymes break down different kinds of tea so that when it gets to human tissue, they are all pretty much the same.

Do you get the same health benefits from taking tea supplements?

There are not very many studies on tea supplements, yet the few we have suggest they are mimicking some of the cardio and cancer benefits established in tea studies. You are going to get some of the same benefits from tea extracts, but they are not the same thing. I have a slight bias as a nutrition scientist. Mother Nature put a lot of different beneficial chemicals and compounds in tea so why not take advantage of all of them? By definition, supplements are 80 to 90 per cent concentrated polyphenol extracts, primarily EGCG, a powerful antioxidant, but as far as I know, theanine amino acid is not in extracts, and theanine is what helps you to focus your attention on a task or relax.

How much do you need to drink to get the health benefits of tea?

From lots and lots of observational studies, it looks like four to five cups a day will put you in the highest 20 per cent for protection against heart disease and stroke. Those who drink four cups or more consistently have the lowest risk of heart disease. There is definitely a dose/response relationship, but most people don't drink eight or 10 or 20 cups a day, so I have no data on that.

Can you drink too much tea?

In animals, you can give absolutely mammoth amounts without harm, and in 5,000 years of human history there is no evidence of harm in healthy human beings, within a tremendous range of doses. Tea is caffeinated -- it has about half as much caffeine as coffee -- so if you are caffeine-sensitive, you might want to drink decaf, but there is no evidence to suggest any adverse consequence from tea consumption, in an otherwise healthful diet. However, one recent report showed that a woman who drank two gallons of strong tea every day for two years developed calcium deposits in her bones, Blumberg noted.

Life, some people (non-prescriptive yoga) in order to reduce suffering from obesity, hypertension, diabetes, the risk of some diseases, a strict vegetarian: a little bit not to eat meat, even including dairy products and eggs. Because these people may have long-term vegetarian vegetarian food with causing bodily unreasonable and lack of variety of nutrition, introduced several relevant in this nutrient mix of yoga remedy for the Senate used.
Yoga diet with the nutrients of life from such major categories of food: fresh fruit and vegetables, nuts and soy milk and cereal category. Yoga think that as long as rational arrangement practiced yoga who can receive adequate nutrients. Yoga balanced diet but not too complex and the Japan Society for four to five kinds of food enough. At least once a day eat vegetables salad. Do not eat the whole eat meals. Maintain a relaxed and happy mood to enjoy the delicious food, nutrition conducive to the absorption of the body.
Lack of iron
plants contain only non-heme iron and not easily absorbed, and food grains and beans will hinder the body absorb iron.n

Eat more fruits and vegetables containing vitamin C, can also help the body absorb iron. Fruits and vegetables reduce the high iron content and hamper the body absorb iron together to eat food, such as beans, coffee, tea, and so on.
Lack of vitamin B2
Vegetarian such as a lack of adequate vitamin B2, may suffer from anemia.
Remedy: You can eat more dairy products, pure vegetarians should eat more whole grain foods, a dark green vegetables, beans, nuts and sesame seeds, and other categories.
Lack of zinc
lack of zinc, it will affect child development, and hinder reproductive function.n

Stone or refined food grain sick. Wheat, mustard and pumpkin - also are rich in zinc.
Lack of calcium
Pure vegetarians may quit fresh dairy products, reduce the body absorb calcium. Lack of calcium, especially women, to the middle-aged and elderly, vulnerable to osteoporosis.
Remedy: Fresh more fresh vegetables, soybean and sesame, and so rich in calcium containing foods.
Lack of protein
full vegetarian, may often lack the necessary physical 1-2 kinds of amino acid.
Yoga recommended dietary practices yoga concept should moderate consumption of fish. Meat and poultry. And that animal meat and animal protein foods in the low-quality, and actually absorb the food is greater than the energy required for these foods can give to the energy, fresh fruit and vegetables, nuts and soy milk category, as well as better cereal protein

5) the types of food to eat meals should be as few as possible (the Japan Society for four to five kinds of food enough). The food you eat more simple, the more similar, the more easily be completely digest and use.
Remedy: the combination of different food each other to meet the physical requirements of protein, grains and beans is the best combination, can try Sekihan, eight-treasure porridge, etc..
Lack of vitamin D
If the lack of adequate vitamin D would lead to bone osteoporosis, rickets, bone structure and physical vulnerability of phosphorus and calcium, such as the loss.

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