Black's ok, Green is Better, Best of All is White

  

A study cited in Science Daily... 

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071113163016.htm

... found that complementing green tea with either citrus juices or vitamin C likely increases the amount of catechins available for the body to absorb. Citrus juice increased recovered catechin levels by more than five times, the study found. Lemon juice in the tea caused 80 percent of tea's catechins to remain viable. Following lemon, in terms of stabilizing power, were orange, lime and grapefruit juices. 

It appears that vitamin C and citrus juices interact with catechins to prevent their degradation in the intestines and thus help them to deliver their health benefits to the body.

What health benefits?

Green tea's beneficial effects are due chiefly to catechins.  One of them, epigallocatechin gallate, is an antioxidant about 25-100 times more potent than vitamins C and E.  The high antioxidant activity of green tea protects the body from oxidative damage due to free radicals. Research also shows that green tea may help the arterial wall by reducing lipids, i.e., fats that can plug up the arteries. 

As if that weren't enough to make green tea part of your daily ritual, further research has demonstrated that the tea can protect against experimentally induced DNA damage, and slow or halt the initiation and progression of undesirable cell colonies. Some studies have shown evidence that green tea provides immuno-protective qualities for people undergoing radiation or chemotherapy.

Hmm... what about green tea cooked by the sun in glass jars?

And if you really want to suss out the benefits of green tea, try it in its concentrated form known as Matcha in Japan. One standard strength cup of Matcha delivers around the same potency of benefits as ten cups of regular green tea.  

A little Googling will qucikly reveal that green tea from Japan is generally produced according to much better standards of purity and organic integrity than is green tea produced in China.

Is Green Tea the perfect health drink?  No. Despite its numerous benefits, it does contain caffeine (much less than coffee) and some fluoride. However, there is an outstanding option... White Tea!

It turns out that green tea, white tea, oolong, pu-erh tea and black tea are all produced from the same plant, Camellia sinensis.  White tea is the least processed, the least denatured  of the bunch, the highest in health promoting antioxidants.