The Number 1 Reason To Drink Tea Not Water

"You must drink 8 bottles of water per day to stay healthy."  No Thank You, I'll drink my tea.

Everyone is on this water kick. I need to drink 8 bottles of water per day. "That's 48 bottles of water per week", as Lewis Black stated in his HBO special, "you need to bring a burro to the store with you just to carry all of those bottles.  The health benefits of drinking that much water have never be clearly defined.  However, the health benefits of tea have.

There are natural compounds in tea leaves called polyphenols.  Polyphenols are natural plant antioxidants. Antioxidants have been shown to prevent damage caused by free radicals to DNA and other molecules. 

Tea polyphenols have demonstrated several cancer preventive properties.  In addition to antioxidant activity, these compounds may reduce abnormal cell growth and inflammation, help the body get rid of cancer causing agents and restore communication between different cells in the body.

According to the National Cancer Institute, the relationship between tea consumption and human cancer has been studied in several different populations and at various cancer sites.  Some of the studies comparing tea drinkers to non-tea drinkers support the claim that tea-drinking prevents cancer.

In animal studies, different tea extracts, tea polyphenol mixtures, purified tea components, and tea infusions as the sole drinking fluid have consistently been shown to prevent cancer, including cancers of the colon, esophagus, liver, stomach, lung, breast, pancreas, and skin.  The purified component, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), prevented colon cancer.  A polyphenol mixture with EGCG, Polyphenon E, has also shown cancer preventive properties in animals.  Animal studies were inconclusive as to whether EGCG or Polyphenol E caused DNA mutations that might trigger cancer growth.

Tea consumption began as far back as 2737 BC.  The second emperor of China, Shen Nung, discovered tea when tea leaves blew into his cup of hot water or so the story goes.  And then in 1876 Thomas Johnstone Lipton opened his first shop in Glasgow using American merchandising methods.  At present Tea consumption in on the rise especially Green Tea.

Snapple has a television commercial touting the health benefits of it's green tea with a mysterious ingredient EGCG .  In addition to the many health benefits of EGCG mentioned above, researchers at the Mayo Clinic using laboratory cell cultures shows that a component of green tea known as epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) [epi-gallo-cat-ekin-3-gal-ate] helps kill leukemia cells by interrupting the communication signals they need to survive.

So, instead of drinking 8 glasses of water per day why not drink 4 cups of tea and 4 bottles of water.  Guess what- you are still getting 8 glasses of water…you know why…BECAUSE TEA IS MADE WITH WATER…HELLO.  Beware of the water fanatics who claim that if you add anything to pure water like tea or lemon it will negate the health benefits…I'm yawning.

Drew DiVittorio Dipl., CH (NCCAOM)
Taoist Healing Arts Consultant
Classical Chinese Herbolog & Nutrition
National Board Certified
Tel: 917-582-3739
Blog: asianhealingartsinstitute.com
Bridging the Gap Between Oriental Medicine & Modern Nutrition

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