Tea - both
black and green - offers significant health-promoting qualities and should
be included as part of a healthy lifestyle, according to a new report.
Tea is, after water, the world's most widely
consumed beverage, but it was first used as a medicine by the Chinese long
before it became a common drink.
Several millennia later, modern research is
confirming that the ancient Chinese wisdom has a bearing on contemporary
health concerns including cancer, heart disease, and antibiotic-resistant
bacteria. The timeliness of this message as the 20th century concludes
could not be better for the tea industry say China Products North America,
New York, USA.
The importance of eating a correctly balanced
diet has been recognised and studied throughout this century, creating the
well-known concept of we are what we eat. However, researchers are turning
their attention to tea as a preventative 'medicine' in the fight against
the major diseases of the western world - cancer and heart disease. One
study revealed that tea can retard the growth of cancerous tumours by as
much as 90 per cent!
More than just a drink, tea is now being promoted
for its therapeutic properties and if the findings of current scientific
research are confirmed, we can expect many more people including a daily
cuppa as part of their health regime.
Source : Phipps RP, Nutrition, 15:968-71, 1999
Nov-Dec
©
The Internet Health Library 2000
