This is a small blood chemistry paper given at a conference in San Diego this week, according to a Reuter's news account, so it's very preliminary, but I perked right up since my 84 year old mother who is going great guns has drunk tea with meals all her life.
Drink tea with/after a fatty meal.
High fat meals can be a trigger for a heart attack (and 50% of women are vulnerable to that). When we eat a high fat meal, our blood fat levels go up right away and the blood vessels stiffen and get a little damage every time.
But in healthy volunteers in Japan, they tested what the same high fat meal did when eaten while drinking black tea (and green tea is supposed to be better) and while drinking water. The tea group had better blood flow and higher antioxidant levels in their blood (that's good--prevents the damage). So, the tea seemed to be balancing out the damage and probably lowering the risk of an attack. Instant tea probably won't work, but that's a different tip.
Trish
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I do love these tips! I just can't stand walking on the treadmill
for 30 minutes, so I don't! Ten minutes at a time is
plausible! I should increase my broccoli! But I am a faithful
lover of green tea!!!! However, one of your posts states
that caffeine contributes to osteoporosis and green tea
does have caffeine. I am not willing to give up my green
tea!!
Locki
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I've been thinking about an osteoporosis article, locki, so I've been poking around and discovered that there's actually some contrary evidence in the medical literature to the "fact" that caffeine causes problems. I'm not sure where the weight of evidence is now--but apparently it may not be as big a problem as a lot of sites say it is.
My bet is that it's like everything else, moderation is ok. And green tea has far less caffeine than coffee or cola--and far more of the good things.
trish
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Yea, I can keep drinking my green tea! Now I won't feel
so guilty about my green tea habit! Thanks, Trish!
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Green Tea
Folks with osteoporosis concerns should know that tea (green and black) has relatively high levels of fluoride (and aluminum, although I am less sure of that one). Too much fluoride is not good for the bones, or the thyroid.
If anyone has solid info indicating that the level of fluoride in green tea should not be of concern, please let me know, I like it a lot.
Oriole
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Thanks, Oriole. I will wait for an answer to your question about
flouride and green tea. I began drinking it because I read so
many healthy benefits from it. Now.........I'll wait for some
answers.
Locki
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I hadn't heard that about tea, so I went looking at thyroid.about.com and sure enough there were several letters, complete with footnotes. But you know, these were people with a mission, not unlike the vegans with the exaggerated broccoli claim.
I did a medline search of the medical literature. There isn't that much done with it. A Polish study just seeing what's in several kinds of black and green tea basically found traces of all kinds of things, but at small fractions of the levels that are a concern to the FAO/WHO. They characterized levels as low (and recommended drinking 4 cups a day for hypertension). Aluminum is probably from certain kinds of environmental exposure of the crops--that is not inherent in tea. But I'd want to know some more than the abstract said about what the conditions were for this study and where the tea was grown.
Then I found the following abstract of research dentists hoping that tea would help cavities. It actually does seem to help, but not because of the fluoride, which they found to be very low.
Fukuoka Igaku Zasshi 1992 Apr;83(4):174-80 "Anticariogenic effects of green tea." Yu H, Oho T, Tagomori S, Morioka T.
"However, the action of fluoride does not seem to be so important, because its concentration is very low. The effect of green tea on caries inhibition as well as on the increment of acid resistance appears to be more correlative with the non-dialysable substances in tea."
However, there's another part of this argument, which is that fluoride can actually be a benefit for osteoporosis, according to a study in the Archives of Internal Medicine October 22 2001. It actually prevented spinal fractures in women who already had osteoporosis.
There can be fluoride toxicity--but that's in a study of people whose food supply is exposed to industrial toxic waste in China.
So, like in all things, it seems that moderation is the way to go--and an awareness of your own problems. On average, half of the women reading this will die of heart disease. I think a few cups of tea, particularly with a meal, have benefits that outweigh whatever the risks are. But obviously if there was a way of making sure the tea was grown away from pollutants, it would be better.
Trish
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Very interesting, Trish. It seems that the benefits still outweigh
the negative. I am plagued with hypertension. Are there
studies or some kind of proof that 4 cups a day of tea
will help hypertension? Would that be green tea, black tea,
or decaffinated tea? I am willing to try anything safe to
stabilize the bp. Trish, you are a wonderful!!!
Locki
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locki
You're so good for the ego!
I found this summary of what green tea does--they are selling it, so they aren't telling the negatives, I suspect, like the possibility of aluminum/fluoride problems. Still the explanation of how it might help blood pressure is clear--and also if you are taking one of those BP medicines, it's clear that you'd have to be cautious.
And this summary of the positive research gives a little more information on how it works (and again avoids the warnings). It's apparently just a few rodent studies (but that's a common problem with herbal things). I'm intrigued by the link to GABA--
I have a very bad problem with hypertention. I did some reading on hypertention (Well A lot) and have found tons of tea tips. The black or Green tea both are good. But if you have Blood pressure problems caffiene can make it worse.
There is a Herb Tea with Chamomile & Hibiscus flowers. It has a minty flavor and its very nice. The combonation is relaxing. This tea was on one of the top % for helping with hypertention. Not as a cure but a way to help relax. It won't knock you into some deep sleep but it can calm the nerves greatly. BTW you can get this Herb tea in about any grocery store.
I do have one question? Does the Black or Green tea have to be drank hot? or can it be iced?. I have a Triglyceride problem with a good cholesterol go figure. But i need to get my Triglyerides down. I am on an arobic program now and new eating habbits. And umm ummm Trying very hard to stop smoking. I gave up caffiene but i know they make Green tea in decafe yay! because i really like it.
Take care sisters!!
Michele
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WOW!!!!Trish, those two studies on green tea make me appreciate the benefits even more than before!!!!!
Thank you for "doing the digging" and locating these articles!!! One thing I learned is that I may not be consuming enough of it for the benefits. I may look into the green tea capsules for supplements. I wish there was a women's foundation that would hire you, Trish,
as their full time researcher and publisher on women's health. You spend so much time here helping us; next, you need to help the world!!!!!!!! I am determined now
more than ever to keep drinking.................green tea.
Shell, if you read the first link Trish provided, there is a paragraph that said there is a new study that found the caffeine in green tea worked together with the green tea polyphenols for cancer inhibition. They are selling their capsules, but they stated that one of their capsules which is equivalent to 5 to 10 cups of
green tea has about the same amount of caffeine as one cup of coffee. I can't verify whether or not this is true. Also, the two articles both found green tea to help with the cholesterol and triglycerides. My sister's
doctor told her to take fish oil supplements to help with the triglycerides, and it helped tremendously. I take evening primose oil (Trish wrote an article on it on the pull down menu) and try to eat salmon seveal times a week. My triglycerides are good. My overall cholesterol
can't seem to get under 200 which is genetic. Thanks for the tip about the chamomile and hibiscus tea!
Locki
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Green tea is great for losing weight
Hi Sisters,
I have been drinking green tea (Decaffeinated) for about a year or more. I can tell you that it does help you lose weight! I was drinking the regular green tea but my mouth got so dry and I felt dehydrated. Believe me it really helps in weight control, I can eat about anything and if I drink the green tea I do not gain weight. When I stop the green tea and eat normally I gain weight. Go figure!!!
Take Care,
Super Hyster
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Wow, that's great to hear, superhyster! I sort of backed off from this one myself (I love coffee, what can I say?) but I just bought a box of Jasmine tea--that's flavored green tea--so it ought to be good. I've brought it in to the office.
I just bumped into this one--There was a study done by scientists at the University of Chicago's Tang Center for Herbal Medicine Research that showed that a major chemical component of green tea may lead to weight loss. Of course they were using megaconcentrated doses in rats, at levels we couldn't reach, so the big effect wouldn't come from just drinking it--but it might help! It decreased appetite and the rats lost a big amount of weight.
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