Our new look for the new year! It combines ease of navigation with what we feel is a pretty attractive site and newsletter. What we haven't changed are our excellent teas (although we have added a few new ones)... Lots of new medical research this month:
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Drinking five cups a day lowered risk by 48% compared with drinking less than one cup a day
GREEN TEA may be associated with a decreased risk of advanced prostate cancer, according to researchers in Tokyo. In a prospective study by investigators at Japan's National Cancer Center, men who drank five or more cups of green tea a day had a 48% reduced risk of advanced prostate cancer compared with men who drank less than one cup a day, after adjusting for multiple potential confounders, the investigators reported in the American Journal of Epidemiology (2007;167:71-77). The researchers, led by Norie Kurahashi, MD, observed no association between green tea consumption and localized prostate cancer. Dr. Kurahashi's team analyzed data from 49,920 men, including 404 with newly diagnosed prostate cancer, who were enrolled in the Japan Public Health Center-based Prospective Study. The new findings are consistent with those of some previous studies, but not others. For example, a case-control study in southeast China found that the risk of the malignancy decreased with increasing frequency of green tea consumption (Int J Cancer. 2004;108:130-135). A case-control study in Canada found that general tea consumption was associated with a decreased risk of prostate cancer (Int J Cancer. 1998;78:707-711). But another Canadian study (Cancer Causes Control. 1999;10:355-367) and an Italian study (Nutr Cancer. 1992;17:27-31) found no difference in prostate cancer risk between general tea drinkers and nondrinkers. Dr. Kurahashi and colleagues noted that subjects in some of these previous studies did not commonly drink green tea, but black tea. They also pointed out that almost all of the previous studies did not consider the effect of tea according to cancer stage. The authors noted that the study's prospective design was among its strengths. Collecting green tea consumption data prior to subsequent diagnosis of prostate cancer allowed them to avoid recall bias. Another strength was the high response rate (about 80%) and negligible loss to follow-up (0.2%). One of the study's limitations was the absence of data on whether men had been screened for prostate cancer. “It is possible that men who have health check-ups are more health conscious and may drink more green tea, which would attenuate the results for localized prostate cancer and obscure any preventive effects on localized prostate cancer.”From the February 2008 Issue of Renal And Urology News REFERENCE http://www.renalandurologynews.com/Green-Tea-May-Cut-Advanced-PCa-Risk/article/107241/
Parkinson’s disease is the second commonest neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer’s, affecting 1% of the over-65 population and 2% of the over-80’s. Recent research (1) published in Biological Psychiatry from the Institute of Biophysics, Academia Sinica in Beijing indicates that polyphenols in green tea have a protective effect on neurons that could be put to potential clinical use. In a laboratory study carried out on rats, serving as the animal model for Parkinson’s disease, damage was inflicted upon dopamine-secreting neurons of rats — simulating the disease in humans where the loss of such neurons leads to debilitating disorders of movement. Controls were set up by dividing the rats in 6 groups - control group not receiving neurotoxin, control group receiving normal diet plus neurotoxin, two study groups receiving neurotoxin and 150 mg/kg and 450 mg/kg of green tea polyphenols respectively, and two control groups receiving polyphenols only in the above doses. The results showed significant neuroprotective effects of green tea which depended on the dose being administered - overall 3.7 times more neurons survived in the combined group that received polyphenols with neurotoxins, than those who received neurotoxins alone. Dr Baolu Zhao (senior author) and his colleagues also links this protective effect of polyphenols to inhibition of the ROS-NO pathway which is thought to mediate cell death in Parkinson’s disease. This pathway is thought to generate nitric oxide and free oxygen radicals, both of which are lethal to neurons. Free radicals are also thought to be related to a number of diseases and even aging, and this anti-oxidant function of green tea has been traditionally explained as the reason behind green tea’s reputation as an anti-aging agent. However, it must be remembered the study does not imply that drinking copious amounts of green tea will protect against or cure Parkinson’s disease. Laboratory conclusions often do not hold out in clinical trials, and health claims for well known agents like Ginko Biloba and St. John’s Wort have not held out in carefully controlled clinical studies. Moreover, large prevalence studies (2) have not shown any difference in prevalence rates of Parkinson’s disease between China, where green tea drinking is common, and the Western world. However, this study does indicate that drugs developed from polyphenols do merit clinical trials in the near future as possible anti-Parkinson’s agent. Another triumph of the potential of alternative medicine, perhaps. (1) Shuhong Guoa, Jingqi Yana, b, Tangbin Yangd, Xianqiang Yange, Erwan Bezardc and Baolu Zhao. (2007) Protective Effects of Green Tea Polyphenols in the 6-OHDA Rat Model of Parkinson’s Disease Through Inhibition of ROS-NO Pathway. Biological Psychiatry. Volume 62, Issue 12, 15 December 2007, Pages 1353-1362.REFERENCE http://brainblogger.com/2008/01/31/green-tea-and-the-fight-against-parkinsons-disease/
Drinking green tea may help protect against development of gastric cancer, according to a study by Japanese researchers who published the results in the Feb. 2008 issue of the Journal of Clinical Biochemistry and Nutrition.
Early studies have linked stomach cancer to infections of Helicobacter pylori, which is known to stimulate gastric epithelial cell proliferation and apoptosis. Akai Y. at the Nihon University School of Medicine in Tokyo, Japan and colleagues tested green tea polyphenols in a mouse model and found that natural compounds inhibited apoptosis and cell proliferation. In the study, mice were inoculated with H. pylori and lived for 18 months without any intervention. Afterwards, mice were fed drinking water with 0.5% polyphenols every day for 2 weeks. The researchers found mice with H. pylori infection that were not given green tea polyphenols increased cell proliferation in both the antrum and the bodies, but the increased cells were not found in the mice that were infected with the bacteria, but also administered green tea polyphenols. H. pylori infection also increased apoptosis in the infected mice that did not receive polyphenols. But mice receiving the natural compounds did not experience the increased apoptosis. The researchers concluded "the administration with polyphenols might suppress gastric carcinogenesis that is in part related to H. pylori infection." REFERENCEhttp://www.tamilstar.com/news/health/ article_5072.shtml
ARLINGTON, Texas - (Business Wire) What foods and beverages do people in the United States think of as offering the greatest health benefits? Whole grains (59.5%) top the list, followed closely by broccoli (57.6%), bananas (56.9%), oatmeal (56.1%), green tea (55.1%), garlic (54.6%), spinach (54.6%), and carrots (52.4%). Participants in the survey were asked, “Which of the following foods and beverages provide additional health benefits beyond basic nutritional needs?” The answer list contained 70 foods and beverages commonly thought of as healthful, as well as some that might not be perceived as healthful. This data comes from the Health and Nutrition Strategist™, a major ongoing study to track nutritional and health trends, based on 4,000 interviews per year conducted by Decision Analyst, a leading international marketing research and marketing consulting firm. The least healthful products were “spirits,” defined as bourbon, vodka, rum, and scotch. Only 3.4% of participants identified “spirits” as healthy. Also at the bottom was beer, believed to be healthy by only 5.3% of respondents. Methodology Decision Analyst’s Health and Nutrition Strategist™ survey is conducted online using its American Consumer Opinion® panel (www.acop.com). The survey is based on a nationally representative, statistically balanced sample of 4,087 American adults, conducted on a continuous basis each year. The margin of error is less than 2 percentage points. The Health and Nutrition Strategist™ is a massive, integrated knowledge base of food and beverage consumption, restaurant usage, health habits, and nutritional trends. About Decision Analyst Decision Analyst (www.decisionanalyst.com), based in Dallas-Fort Worth, is a leading international marketing research and marketing consulting firm specializing in advertising testing, strategy research, new product development, and advanced modeling for marketing decision optimization. The 30-year-old firm delivers competitive advantage to clients throughout the world in the consumer packaged goods, telecommunications, retail, high technology, medical and pharmaceutical, utilities, and e-commerce industries. In addition, Decision Analyst owns and operates the American Consumer Opinion® online panel, which has more than seven million participants and is one of the largest such panels in the world.REFERENCE http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/ americans-believe-whole-grains-are-healthiest- foods-decision-analyst-study-shows,286426.shtml
(foodconsumer.org) -- Green tea extracts may be used to extend the shell-life of meat and prevent off-flavors, according to an Indian study in the March, 2008 issue of Food Chemistry.
The study led by researchers from the Defense Food Research Laboratory in Mysore showed meat treated with a green tea extract did not show signs of microflora or spoilage. Green tea has been linked to a variety of health benefits including lower risk for cancers, heart disease, and Alzheimer's disease and enhanced weight loss, nutraingredients.com reported. Green tea contains 30 to 40 percent of water extractable polyphenols compared to 3 to 10 percent in black tea. Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), epigallocatechin, epicatechin gallate, and epicatechin (EC) are the four major polyphenols present in tea leaves. In the study, the researchers prepared a green tea extract using ethanol and tested it on fresh mutton at ambient temperature (25 degree Celsius and 85 percent relative humidity. K.V. Kumudavally and colleagues reported that the green tea extract inhibited microflora spoilage for up to four days without having any negative impact on the sensory and physical quality of the meat. Additionally, free fatty acids due to spoilage in the green tea extract treated meat at the end of storage testing were significantly lower than that in the control, 1.5 versus 4.1 grams per 100 grams respectively. The authors said green tea extracts should be safe to use to extend the shelf-life of meat as the tea has been used safely on a daily basis all over the world for thousands of years. |
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