The Great Health Benefits of Tea

Studies conducted by notable universities and institutions strongly suggest that drinking tea can be very beneficial to your health and well being.

Inhibits cancer growth
Tea has long been tied to a lower risk of stomach, colon and breast cancer, although the connection is not proven. Now lab studies find that tea chemicals actually may stop cancer growth. Rutgers University researchers showed that a compound in black tea called TF-2 caused colorectal cancer cells to “commit suicide”; normal cells were unaffected. “The effect is quite dramatic,” said Rutgers professor Kuang Yu Chen, who speculates that the chemical might one day be made into an anti-cancer drug.

Saves arteries
Drinking black tea helps prevent deadly clo gging of arteries and reverses poor arterial functioning that can trigger heart attacks and strokes, two major new studies have found. In a large 10- year study in the Netherlands, men who consumed the amount of antioxidants called “catechins” found in three cups of black tea were 50% less likely to die of ischemic heart disease, caused by narrowed clogged arteries, than were men who consumed only the catechins in half a cup of tea. In another recent test conducted at the Boston University School of Medicine, heart patients drank either plain water or four cups of tea daily. In a month, impaired blood vessel functioning (a risk factor for heart attack and strokes) improved about 50% in the tea drinkers.

Tames inflammation
Researchers at Case Western Reserve University gave arthritis-prone mice either green tea or water. The human equivalent of four cups of green tea daily halved the mice’s risk of developing arthritis. Also intriguing: TF-2, the newly discovered anti-cancer compound in black tea, suppresses the Cox-2 gene that triggers inflammation, says research at Rutgers. That’s the same way the drugs Vioxx and Celebrex work. Also, in a UCLA study of 600 Chinese men and women, drinking green tea halved the risk of chronic stomach inflammation, which can lead to cancer.

Burns calories
Most surprising, green tea’s antioxidant EGCG stimulates the body to burn calories, notably fat. In a Swiss study, a daily dose of 270 mg EGCG (the amount in 2 to 3 cups of green tea) caused men to burn 4% more energy, about 80 extra calories a day. Green tea did not increase heart rate, and the calorie burning was not due to caffeine.