White Tea Health Benefits

A perennial favorite in Asia and China, white tea is gaining in popularity in the West. Impressive evidence of its nutritional benefits is encouraging the surge in popularity of this 5,000-year-old beverage.

Health Benefits of White Tea

Undergoing less processing than many other tea varieties, white tea can have ten times the antioxidant power of vitamin E and impressively high concentrations of polyphenols and catechins. It can also help lower cholesterol and inhibit the development of cancer cells. Side benefits include white tea's ability to help increase bone density, aid the immune system, and help lower blood pressure.

Varieties of White Tea

White tea gets its distinctive appearance and name from the white to silver hairs that are visible on the closed buds of the tea plant, and is comprised of a number of varieties. White peony and silver needle are among the most valuable, but other popular varieties are tribute eyebrow, white Darjeeling, and long life eyebrow.

Silver Needle White Tea (Baihao Yinzhen)

Taken exclusively from buds of the tea plant before opening, silver needle tea is not rolled, fired, or fermented. The harvested buds are steamed and dried, resulting in the finest quality white tea. Silver needle tea has a delicate flavor and resembles a handful of green-gray to silver needles, the visual characteristic for which it is named.

White Peony Tea (Bai Mudan)

Somewhat stronger in flavor than silver needle tea, white peony is taken from the bud and the first few leaves of the tea plant (not the peony).

Brewing White Tea

The White tea needs a lower water temperature for optimum flavor. According to the White Tea Guide, the leaves can be reused several times, but should be steeped longer than in the initial brewing.

Tea is an occasion as well as a beverage. White tea, one of the most delicate and now possibly healthiest, offers a refined flavor and aroma for the discriminating tea enthusiast.

Tea Tips

Keep your tea container sealed and in a cool dark place. Water temperature requirements vary depending on the tea variety you are trying, as do the recommended steep times. White tea is great, but don't stop there. Exploring tea can be a great hobby that's also good for you.

Green Tea (Catechin) Ingredient May Promote Healthy Weight Loss

Aside from fighting heart disease, cancer, and other diseases, a new study shows that drinking green tea may also fight fat. The study showed that people who drank a bottle of tea fortified with green tea extract every day for three months lost more body fat than those who drank a bottle of regular oolong tea.Researchers say the results indicate that substances found in green tea known as catechins may trigger weight loss by stimulating the body to burn calories and decreasing body fat.The findings appear in the January issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Green Tea: Fat Fighter?
Black tea, oolong tea, and green tea come from the same Camellia sinensis plant. But unlike the other two varieties, green tea leaves are not fermented before steaming and drying.

Most teas contain large amounts of polyphenols, which are plant-based substances that have been shown to have antioxidant, anticancer, and antiviral properties.

However, green tea is particularly rich in a type of polyphenols called catechins. These substances have also been shown to have anti-inflammatory and anticancer properties, but recent research in animals show that catechins may also affect body fat accumulation and cholesterol levels.

In this study, researchers looked at the effects of catechins on body fat reduction and weight loss in a group of 35 Japanese men. The men had similar weights based on their BMI(body mass index, an indicator of body fat) and waist sizes.

The men were divided into two groups. For three months, the first group drank a bottle of oolong tea fortified with green tea extract containing 690 milligrams of catechins, and the other group drank a bottle of oolong tea with 22 milligrams of catechins.

During this time, the men ate identical breakfasts and dinners and were instructed to control their calorie and fat intake at all times so that overall total diets were similar.

After three months, the study showed that the men who drank the green tea extract lost more weight (5.3 pounds vs. 2.9 pounds) and experienced a significantly greater decrease in BMI, waist size, and total body fat.

In addition, LDL "bad" cholesterol went down in the men who drank the green tea extract.

The catechin content varies by amount of green tea used and steeping time. But general recommendations, based on previous studies on the benefits of green tea, are at least 4 cups a day. Green tea extract supplements are also available.

Researchers say the results indicate that catechins in green tea not only help burn calories and lower LDL cholesterol but may also be able to mildly reduce body fat.

"These results suggest that catechins contribute to the prevention of and improvement in various lifestyle-related diseases, particularly obesity," write researcher Tomonori Nagao of Health Care Products Research Laboratories in Tokyo, and colleagues.

Reference
By Jennifer Warner
WebMD Medical News
Reviewed By Michael Smith, MD
on Wednesday, January 26, 2005
http://my.webmd.com/content/article/99/
105398.htm

Health Benefits of Tea

Tea is the most commonly consumed beverage in the world after water. Among all varieties of tea - black, green, white, oolong, red, herbal - which one offers the most health benefits?

Benefits of Tea
Numerous studies have demonstrated the anti-cancer properties of antioxidant polyphenols. Some studies have suggested that tea's polyphenols may reduce the risk of gastric, esophageal and skin cancers, if one consumes 4 to 6 cups daily. Other studies have found that polyphenols help prevent blood clotting and lower cholesterol levels. One Japanese study found that green tea lowers death rates from heart disease.

Tea: Black, Green, White or Oolong?
Black, green, white, and oolong teas derive their leaves from a warm-weather evergreen tree known as Camellia sinensis. The leaves from this tree contain polyphenols. The more processing tea leaves undergo, the darker they will turn. Green tea and white tea are the least processed tea. According to Dr. Doug Balentine, Director of Nutrition Health with Lipton, white tea is derived from the young new leaves from the Camellia plant in early spring. Black and oolong teas are partially dried, crushed and fermented. As we have mentioned before, regardless of the processing method, black, green, white and oolong teas all contain polyphenols. In fact, tea ranks as high as or higher than many fruits and vegetables in the ORAC score, a score that measures antioxidant potential of plant-based foods.

What about Herbal Tea and Red Rooibos Tea?
The recently popular South African red Rooibos tea also falls within the herbal tea or tisane category. "Red Rooibos tea is not really tea as it is not derived from the Camellia plant," Dr. Balentine said.

A Cup of Tea Everyday for Healthy Heart

LONDON, Jul 09 (AP) -- Drinking at least one cup of tea a day could cut the risk of heart attack by 44 percent, according to new research presented yesterday.

The study by Dr. Michael Gaziano, a heart specialist at the Harvard Medical School-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, shows that tea contains powerful amounts of flavonoids -- vitamin-like nutrients that make blood cells less prone to clots, which can cause heart attacks.

Gaziano found that people who drank one or more cups of tea a day slashed their risk of heart attack by 44 percent, compared with those who did not drink tea.

John Folts, a University of Wisconsin heart specialist who studies the effects of flavonoids on the heart and was not involved in the study, said he thinks it would take more than one cup of tea a day.

Gaziano's study examined 340 men and women who had suffered heart attacks and matched them by age, sex and neighborhood with people who had never had a heart attack. It then investigated their coffee- and tea-drinking habits over the course of a year.

The study involved regular tea from black tea leaves, as opposed to green or herbal teas. Scientists say black tea contains more powerful flavonoids than green tea, while herbal teas are not known to contain any flavonoids.

Other studies have shown that it doesn't matter if milk, sugar or lemon are added to the tea. There also is no difference between drinking it hot or cold, or preparing it with loose tea leaves, tea bags or granulated crystals, said Dr. Paul Quinlan, a biochemist who heads the Brook Bond tea company's health research unit.

Few of the study subjects drank one beverage exclusively, so they were categorized by their strong preferences. The study was adjusted for factors that could have skewed the results, such as smoking, exercise, alcohol intake and family history of heart trouble.

Scientists have not compared the flavonoid benefits of tea with those of red wine, made famous by research showing that the French, with red wine as a staple, have lower rates of heart disease despite their penchant for high-fat food. However, Quinlan warned that tea is only part of a regimen for cutting heart attack risk and should not be seen as a substitute for eating fruits and vegetables, giving up smoking, cutting fat intake or other heart-healthy habits.

Spa Cuisine: Zesty Lemon Detox Tea Recipe

(taken from: http://www.care2.com/, By Cait Johnson, Assistant Producer, Care2 Healthy Living Channels)

This recipe was designed as a cleansing tea to stimulate processing of excess fats in the body, rev up circulation, and provide essential antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals —a perfect blend of nutrients. It’s a great aid in undoing the effects of holiday over-indulgence, and Annie says she was given the same tea by a helpful friend after she was exposed to toxic chemicals. But it tastes so good, you’ll want to come back for seconds: We had a crock-pot filled with it for a recent women’s workshop and it was gone in no time!

This is a great recipe that really gets around, and it’s so easy to prepare.

INGREDIENTS

Enough freshly-boiled water to fill your teacup or mug
1 tablespoon real maple syrup
Freshly-squeezed juice of half a lemon
Cayenne pepper to taste

Simply stir ingredients together in your mug or cup. Be careful with the cayenne: A little goes a long way.

Tea Tree Oil for Acne

What is Tea Tree Oil?

Tea tree oil is an essential oil obtained by steam distillation of the leaves of Melaleuca alternifolia, a plant native to Australia.

Pure, undiluted tea tree oil is found in health food stores and online. Tea tree oil is also an ingredient in a number of commercial products, such as gels, lotions, creams, toothpaste, mouthwashes, and shampoos.

Why is Tea Tree Oil Used for Acne?

Tea tree oil contains a constituent called terpinen-4-ol that is thought to be responsible for most of tea tree oil's antimicrobial activity. Because tea tree oil can kill bacteria, applying topical tea tree oil to acne lesions has been thought to kill Propionibacterium acnes, the skin-dwelling bacteria that is involved in causing acne.

In a study comparing tea tree oil gel to benzoyl peroxide, tea tree oil had fewer side effects than the benzoyl peroxide, which was associated with itching, burning, stinging, and dryness.

What is the Evidence for Tea Tree Oil and Acne?

Although tea tree oil is a popular remedy for acne, there has only been one older study on tea tree oil and acne.

Although the tea tree oil took longer to work initially, there were fewer side effects with tea tree oil. Researchers noted that there were far fewer side effects in the tea tree oil group.

Should Undiluted Tea Tree Oil be Applied to Acne Lesions?

Undiluted tea tree oil may cause skin irritation, redness, blistering, overdrying, and itching when applied directly to the skin.

A 5% tea tree oil solution can be made by mixing 5 parts tea tree oil to 95 parts water (e.g. 5 mL tea tree oil and 95 mL water).

What About Commercial Tea Tree Oil Products be Used?

There are a number of new topical acne products that contain tea tree oil. DDF has a benzoyl peroxide gel with tea tree oil.

Black Tea and Green Tea - Anticancer

Black tea -- green tea that has been oxidized through fermentation -- contains somewhere between 3 and 10 percent of polyphenols, and semi-fermented oolong tea's polyphenol content stands somewhere between green and black. Tealeaves contain four primary polyphenols: Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), epigallocatechin, epicatechin gallate, and epicatechin.

Friendman joined with researchers from the South Korean universities of Keimyung, Uiduk and Yeungnam to study the effects of nine green tea catechins, three black tea theaflavins, and theanine -- extracted using either water or a water/ethanol mix -- on human cancer cells and normal cells. The majority of the compounds, and all general tea extracts, reduced human breast, colon, liver and prostate cancer cells. The water/ethanol extracts were found to contain higher levels of flavonoids and kill more cancer cells, but the flavonoid levels of the teas did not correspond with the anticancer activities, the researchers said.

"Because it may be too risky to translate results from cell assays to in vivo effects, the observed destruction of a broad range of cancer cells suggests the need for animal and human studies designed to ascertain whether the observed wide variation in potencies of tea compounds and teas can predict corresponding effects in vivo," they wrote.