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Stop! Put down that soft drink.
Here's something better.
Tea - a potentially powerful weapon in your fight against heart disease and cancer.
New research is unearthing a treasure of the many health benefits about this age-old beverage.
Adding to a growing body of research, more studies were presented at the Third International Scientific Symposium on Tea & Human Health, sponsored by the American Cancer Society, the American College of Nutrition and other leading health organizations.
A study from the USDA Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center in Maryland shows tea consumption, when combined with a low-fat and low-cholesterol diet, actually decreases LDL, or bad cholesterol, by 10 percent. Another study published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association says people who have had a heart attack lowered their risk of death by drinking at least two cups a day.
On the cancer front, another study says smokers who drank four cups of decaffeinated green and black teas had significantly lower levels of oxidative DNA damage, which most scientists believe is a cause in many cancers. (Antioxidants help prevent damage to cells.)
So what's the science?
Good old Mother Nature. Tea contains antioxidants, which help the body get rid of free radicals, by-products of cells. Left unchecked, these radicals attack healthy cells, increasing the risk for cancer and cardiovascular disease. Flavonoids, a type of antioxidant in tea, are also found in fruits, vegetables, wine and even dark chocolate.
What's more, tea is free of calories and tastes good. Americans consume more than 50 billion servings of tea or 2.2 billion gallons of tea each year. That's enough to fill more than 160,000 backyard swimming pools. And each day, about half of the U.S. population drinks tea. Of all tea consumed in the U.S., 90 percent is black and the remaining 10 percent is green.
But not all tea is created equal. Herbal "teas" are made from different plants than black, green and oolong tea, which are all derived from the same plant. While herbal "teas" may have various effects, the health benefits of tea have been documented.
Watch out for the diet teas that contain senna, aloe, buckthorn and other plant-derived laxatives in particular. When consumed in excessive amounts, these herbs can cause diarrhea, vomiting, nausea, stomach cramps, chronic constipation, fainting and perhaps death.
Antioxidants are not addressed directly by the USDA Food Pyramid. No beverages except milk are included in this dietary guide. Yet most health experts advise people to eat foods rich in antioxidants and drink eight glasses of water a day. Tea is an ideal food satisfying those needs.
It's not yet clear on how much tea people should be drinking. But, when choosing between soda or a cup of tea, tea is the better choice.
This article was reviewed and updated
June 2007.
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