Tea And Alzhiemers

[Guest curvette]

Originally posted by Jenda+Oct 27 2004, 04:40 PM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Jenda @ Oct 27 2004, 04:40 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin--Spencer@Oct 27 2004, 05:05 AM

"Hot Drinks" is rather vague. I think as long as you believe what you are doing is right, without the slightest bit of guilt then all is well.

Isn't that how sociopaths think, too?

Except that sociopaths often commit heinous crimes like rape, torture and murder. If you can link that to the billions of people in the world who drink green tea, you may have a point.

[Guest curvette]

Originally posted by Matt@Oct 27 2004, 04:53 PM

I was taught that ALL tea was bad. Tisanes (herbal drinks) are not tea, though.

ALL tea is bad. ALL Jell-O is good.

Jell-O is almost all sugar.

Sugar:

Promotes tooth decay

Can produce a significant rise in triglycerides.

Interferes with the absorbtion of calcium and magnesium.

Can cause a decrease in insulin sensitivity.

Can cause hormonal imbalance.

Can cause free radicals and oxidative stress.

Can exacerbate PMS.

Lots of other stuff.

Green tea:

has antibacterial properties which actually inhibit tooth decay.

reduces cholesterol.

is an anti-inflammatory.

improves blood vessel function.

protects against cardiovascular disease.

inhibits the growth of cancers in the early stages.

Protects against Alzheimers.

Lots of other good stuff.

I just have to disagree that all tea is bad.

[Jenda]

Originally posted by curvette+Oct 28 2004, 10:52 AM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (curvette @ Oct 28 2004, 10:52 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>

Originally posted by -Jenda@Oct 27 2004, 04:40 PM

<!--QuoteBegin--Spencer@Oct 27 2004, 05:05 AM

"Hot Drinks" is rather vague. I think as long as you believe what you are doing is right, without the slightest bit of guilt then all is well.

Isn't that how sociopaths think, too?

Except that sociopaths often commit heinous crimes like rape, torture and murder. If you can link that to the billions of people in the world who drink green tea, you may have a point.

I am sure somebody is trying to do that as we speak.

[Guest curvette]

Originally posted by Jenda@Oct 28 2004, 11:48 AM

I am sure somebody is trying to do that as we speak.

Speak of the devil.... I just got done watching "American Justice" about Spokane serial killer Robert Yates. Ya gotta wonder how human beings can become so depraved. Scary.

[Snow]

Originally posted by bizabra@Oct 26 2004, 01:05 PM

If the WofW is such a great health code, why is it interpreted to forbid drinking tea?

Admit it, the WofW is an OBEDIENCE TEST only, and need not be defended on any supposed "health benefit" it supposedly confers, at least as it is now interpreted.

Holy Snaakies,

Biz has it all figured out. Some researcher at Newcastles University found that in the laboratory, green tea inhibited the activity of certain enzymes and now that renders the WoW invalid. ZhaZam!

Here's an idea for you scientific types: Take at random 500 people who follow the Word of Wisdom and another 500 who don't. Follow their health for 50 years and then tell me how invalid the WoW is. Maybe it's the salt air from the Great Salt Lake that puts Utahns at the top of the heath charts every year. Think how much healthier they would be if they ignored the WoW.

[Snow]

Originally posted by Unorthodox@Oct 26 2004, 01:29 PM

I have heard that the LDS are permitted to drink Green Tea. I don't know why, but I've been told only Black Teas are forbidden.

And I've heard that there was no holocaust. What's your point.

[shanstress70]

Deleted, just because I mistakenly double-posted!

[shanstress70]

Originally posted by Snow@Oct 28 2004, 10:05 PM

Here's an idea for you scientific types: Take at random 500 people who follow the Word of Wisdom and another 500 who don't. Follow their health for 50 years and then tell me how invalid the WoW is. Maybe it's the salt air from the Great Salt Lake that puts Utahns at the top of the heath charts every year. Think how much healthier they would be if they ignored the WoW.

I agree with this, Snow. But I think it has to do with the WoW follower not drinking to excess, smoking, or doing drugs. However, if the other group (not the WoW followers) were allowed to drink tea and one glass of wine a day, I bet they would be just as healthy... if not healthier than the WoW followers. Just a guess. It would be an interesting study.

Actually, if the WoW followers drank several sugar-laden sodas a day (as is typical), and the tea drinkers didn't have the soda, I'm pretty certain that the tea/wine drinkers (still no tobacco or drugs) would be healthier.

[Spencer]

To many if's whats the point?

If i hopped to work on one leg every day I bet i would live a year longer.

[Spencer]

Telling someone they could have only one of something is probably much tougher than saying they could have as much or none of it.

What was that chip slogan? Bet ya cant eat just 1.

[shanstress70]

Point is - it doesn't make sense to me that tea is included in there in the first place. Not that I really care anymore... just had a nice glass of it with lunch. But it looks like it doesn't make sense to some members either.

[Guest Unorthodox]

Deleted

[Guest Unorthodox]

Deleted

[Spencer]

* Although all tea varieties possess far less caffeine than both coffee and coke cola (with green having the least), it can induce insomnia and nervousness in sensitive and over-indulgent individuals.

* It should also be noted that the antioxidant action of (phenolic-rich) tea extracts has been shown to reduce the ability of humans to utilise dietary iron. Thus excessive intake of tea should be avoided by people who are prone to anaemia.

Samman S., Sandstrom B., Toft M.B., Bukhave K., Jensen M., Sorensen S.S. & Hansen M. Green tea extract added to foods reduces nonheme-iron absorption. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 2001 Mar;73(3):607-612.

[Spencer]

What's In Your Green Tea?

By Frances Cerra Whittelsey

Credit: Terry LaBan

Hope Nemiroff thought she was living the healthiest lifestyle possible. After being diagnosed with cancer in 1995 and having a tiny tumor removed from her breast, she had changed her ways. She walked. She went for hypnosis and did yoga to help reduce her stress levels. She switched to a mostly organic, vegetable-based diet. She drank a dozen cups of green tea every day.

Determined to learn everything she could about her disease, Nemiroff, now 58, also became president of the Mid-Hudson Breast Health Action Project, an advocacy group in New York. Impressed by her efforts, her oncologist hired her to help with a study of the relationship between DDT and breast cancer. Although she was not a subject of the study, Nemiroff says, "I got curious. I wanted to see what [the blood] of somebody like me would look like who was living a healthy lifestyle."

Her blood, it turned out, contained traces of DDT. And when she later investigated what part of her diet might be contaminated with the pesticide, the answer jolted her. A laboratory analysis found DDT in her green tea.

This finding was especially shocking because green tea has become the unofficial beverage of choice for breast cancer survivors. Both laboratory science and low breast cancer rates in Japan, a land of green-tea drinkers, suggest that substances in the tea might play a role in preventing breast cancer. Tea manufacturers have capitalized on those theories, labeling their boxes with statements like "Ancient Healing Formula Teas with Organic Ingredients" (The Yogi Tea Company) or noting the presence of anti-oxidants that "help neutralize free radicals ... molecules which can damage cells" (Lipton). While overall tea sales in the United States have remained flat during the past decade, cancer concern has propelled the wholesale value of green tea consumed here from $2 million in 1990 to $25 million in 1999.

DDT, on the other hand, is a synonym for environmental poison. It is the pesticide that was banned by the United States in 1972, 10 years after publication of Rachel Carson's landmark book, Silent Spring. Carson

Hope Nemiroff. Credit: Andrea Barrist Stern.

exposed the pesticide as a terminator, a man-made plague that wiped out populations of songbirds, trout and salmon, killing them outright or rendering them sterile. Introduced to the world during World War II as a public health measure to kill body lice and mosquitoes, DDT was sprayed with abandon for decades by government agencies and a trusting public who never suspected it would remain in the environment long afterward. Many now believe that exposure to DDT is a cause of cancer. Carson herself endured a radical mastectomy while writing Silent Spring, and she died of breast cancer two years after the book was published Finding DDT in Nemiroff's tea raises a number of urgent questions: Was the finding an isolated case? How did it get there? Did the DDT threaten Nemiroff's health, that of other breast cancer survivors, or other American consumers? Should people stop drinking green tea?

An In These Times investigation has found that Nemiroff's contaminated tea was clearly not an isolated or rare case. In These Times purchased 10 boxes of different brands of green tea at a suburban New York supermarket and health food store, and had them analyzed by Toxicology International of Fairfax, Virginia. Analysis of the tea samples showed that two of the 10 brands were contaminated with DDT, in violation of Environmental Protection Agency rules. The one with the highest levels was produced by the Yogi Tea Company, and included the herbs echinacea and kombucha. However, a new sample of Alvita Chinese Green Tea, the brand Nemiroff had been drinking, showed no traces of DDT.

In addition, five of the tea samples contained chlorpyrifos, also known as Dursban, which the EPA banned from consumer products last June because of its health risk, particularly to children. Chlorpyrifos is an organochlorine, putting it in the same chemical family as DDT. Under its recent action, the EPA reduced the allowable residues of chlorpyrifos in many fruits and vegetables. But tea is not supposed to contain any of the pesticide, making any amount of it an illegal adulteration.

These test results mean that consumers can have no assurance that green tea - or any tea made from leaves of the camellia sinensis plant - is free of pesticide contamination. But the importance of the findings, say experts informed of the test results, is that they show the widespread contamination of our food supply and the environment.

The pesticides were found in tiny amounts, in parts per billion, and pose no imminent health danger. DDT accumulates in our bodies and is carried in breast tissue, so ingesting contaminated tea is certainly undesirable. But the experts say that the benefits of drinking green tea probably outweigh the risks.

How did the DDT get in the tea? Surprise: DDT is still being manufactured in China and India and used in more than two dozen Third World countries in Africa and Asia. China is the source of most of the green tea imported into the United States. Finding DDT in tea imported from China would not surprise Janice Jensen, a senior environmental chemist in the EPA's Office of Pesticide Programs. "They're still producing DDT in China," she says, "and there is still some use of DDT there. DDT is caught in the atmosphere, and can be redeposited far from its use site - that's one of the arguments for the global treaty on persistent organic pollutants."

This proposed international treaty is the focus of intensive efforts by the United Nations and environmental organizations, and it is still being negotiated. (The United States government says it supports the treaty, but environmentalists have criticized U.S. efforts to water down provisions that they and the European Union support.) The overall goal is to reduce the use of, or eliminate entirely, 12 particularly hazardous chemicals called "persistent organic pollutants," or POPs, including DDT. But several developing countries are balking at a DDT ban because until effective and affordable alternatives are available it is their best weapon against mosquitoes that transmit malaria, one of the world's top public health problems. Although environmentalists urge the use of safer alternatives, DDT is cheap and readily available. The affected countries simply cannot afford other control methods, and the United States has not made combating malaria a top spending priority.

But it turns out that the actions of people in China and Africa, taken to protect their health from an immediate and deadly threat, have a direct impact on the purity of the American food supply. According to Clifton Curtis, director of the World Wildlife Fund's Global Toxics Initiative, "DDT is such a potent chemical that as long as it is used anywhere in the world, nobody is safe."

Six billion pounds of DDT have been produced and used since its introduction in 1942, more than any other pesticide. In years past, it was sprayed, often in a sticky oil mixture, on farmlands, forests, rivers, estuaries and even the Long Island suburbs of New York City (which today have very high rates of breast cancer). The purpose of that suburban spraying effort was to wipe out the gypsy moth, and it was a failure; the insects periodically re-appear in the Northeast in numbers so large that you can hear them eating the oak trees bare.

Because DDT persists in the environment for decades, it is literally everywhere and in everybody. The average level of the pesticide in human fat is seven parts per million. DDT and its metabolite, DDE, have been found in every sample of breast milk tested, from the Arctic to South Africa - where children receive DDT in their mothers' milk at rates five to 18 times higher than recommended by the World Health Organization. The fact that the WHO even has calculated an "acceptable" daily intake of DDT testifies to the extent of DDT pollution.

In the United States, a 1992-1993 study by the Food and Drug Administration found that 5.6 percent of commonly consumed fruits and vegetables that it tested were contaminated with illegal pesticides. Todd Hettenbach, a pesticide policy analyst with the Environmental Working Group, says that even crops grown in the United States, where DDT use stopped almost 30 years ago, continue to show DDT contamination. Squash and root crops like carrots are a particular concern, he says.

With imported food, the situation is worse. A 1994 report to Congress on food safety by the General Accounting Office (GAO) noted that countries which export food to the United States need not, except in the case of meat and poultry, have monitoring systems equivalent to ours, and that U.S. agencies often lack information on chemicals used by exporting countries.

Richard Liroff, director of the World Wildlife Fund's Alternatives to DDT Project, says his organization had queried the Chinese government to find out how much DDT is both produced and used there. "We got no response," he says, adding, "Even though it is widely believed that there is diversion [of DDT intended for public health purposes] to agriculture, we have nothing more than anecdotal evidence."

Technically, EPA rules make the presence of any DDT in food illegal. But recognizing the reality of worldwide contamination, the agency has set "action" levels for the presence of DDT in meat, fruits and vegetables. These levels are in parts per million, amounts far higher than those found in the tea. Only when the action levels are exceeded do either the U.S. Department of Agriculture or FDA take steps to find the source of the DDT and try to retrieve the food before it gets to market.

In 1994 the GAO reported that 3 percent of the imported food shipments tested by the FDA contained prohibited pesticides. It said that even when detected, about one-third of the contaminated food probably found its way to store shelves. "It is very hard to seize contaminated products once they leave the border, very hard to track them down," says Jay Feldman of the National Coalition Against the Misuse of Pesticides.

Devra Lee Davis, an epidemiologist and toxicologist who was a presidential appointee to a government chemical safety board, says that "having been in the government, I understand that this is too big a problem for the government to solve. It will take the private sector organizing itself to provide assurance to the public" that imported food is pesticide-free by testing their products. The Environmental Working Group has suggested that food importers adopt an approach to food safety that would establish critical control points for quality testing. The private sector would do the testing, and the FDA would police that process.

But tea manufacturers insist they do test. "This is the first time anyone has found anything in our tea," says Jagat Joti Khalsa, director of communications for Yogi Tea, upon learning the results of the tea analysis. He describes a systematic and elaborate process of constant testing of tea and herbs bought from 40 or 50 vendors, which he says costs the company more than 5 percent of its profit margin. Most of the company's green tea, he says, comes from organic tea estates, primarily in India.

The other tea contaminated with DDT was Stash Premium Green Tea. Joy Edlund, a spokeswoman for Stash, calls the finding "really strange." She says the company's premium green tea is grown in Brazil on virgin land never before used for agriculture, "so DDT was never used on it." She adds that the company's farming practices are so natural that it has been contemplating marketing the tea as organic. She says Stash does not test its tea for purity itself; they import the tea from Brazil.

Both Edlund and Khalsa asked for the tea used in the tests to be sent to them for their own analysis.

Among many breast cancer activists and some scientists, there is a strong belief that past and present small-scale exposure to DDT is the cause of at least some breast, prostate and other kinds of cancer. But not all the evidence is clear. A 1993 study showed that women with malignant breast cancer had higher blood levels of DDT than women without the disease, but it has been difficult to really nail down cause and effect. A May 1994 toxicological profile of the chemical prepared for the U.S. Public Health Service noted that studies of workers exposed to DDT in the workplace "do not indicate conclusively an association" between DDT exposure and cancer.

Yet the same document notes that studies "suggest that DDT may cause damage to human chromosomes" and that studies in rats show it to have "estrogen-like" effects. This is of particular concern because one of the few generally accepted risk factors for breast cancer is exposure to estrogen or estrogen-mimicking substances, called xenoestrogens. Studies show that estrogen and xenoestrogens bind with receptors in mammary glands, and in the lab xenoestrogens have been shown to make human breast cancer cells grow. The longer a woman is exposed to estrogen - either naturally, through early menstruation or late menopause, or, it is theorized, from exposure to estrogen-mimickers - the higher her risk of breast cancer.

It is on the basis of its estrogenic properties that Janette Sherman, a physician and author of Life's Delicate Balance: Causes and Prevention of Breast Cancer, is convinced that DDT is a cause of that disease. "You [eat] one part per billion today," she says, "and one tomorrow, and at the end of the month you have 30 parts - these chemicals accumulate in the fat. DDT breaks down into DDE, which has been shown to be estrogenic in multiple animal tests going back to the '60s." She adds: "It's nice to call [the studies] equivocal, but it's not that way at all."

Because she knew about these studies, Hope Nemiroff decided to act after her blood test showed higher than average levels of DDT. She spent 22 days undergoing a detoxification regimen designed to purge chemical poisons from the body. The regimen included a run followed by more than four hours a day of sweating in a relatively low-temperature sauna. The regimen seemed to work. Her DDT blood levels fell from 0.9 parts per billion before the regimen to 0.3 parts per billion after.

But six months later - during which time she had been eating her organic diet and drinking green tea-she was rocked by the results of another blood test: Her DDT levels had risen to 1.1 parts per billion. When a test of her water found it clear, she had the tea tested and discovered that it was, indeed, contaminated.

Should people stop drinking green tea because of these findings? Green tea is no different from other teas in that it comes from the camellia sinensis plant, which grows best in the tropics at high altitude, where the days are warm, rain is ample, and the nights are cool. What makes the final product green tea, as opposed to black tea, is only the manner of processing. Black tea leaves are subjected to a period of high heat and humidity, during which the tea oxidizes and turns from green to brown. Leaves for green tea are subjected to a shorter or somewhat different heating process. As a result, green tea retains a class of chemicals called catechins, which may play a role in cancer prevention and be part of the explanation for lower breast cancer rates in Japan.

Davis, who has written extensively on breast cancer and the environment and expects to publish Nemiroff's case in a scientific journal, did not advise her to stop drinking green tea. Davis would not recommend other women give up the beverage either. "There is a lot of benefit to drinking green tea that has been shown experimentally," she says.

Sherman, author of books on breast cancer and chemical exposure, agrees that people should not stop drinking potentially beneficial green tea because of the DDT findings. What those results illustrate, she says, "is that our entire food supply is now contaminated worldwide because of massive use of pesticides."

As Nemiroff has done, consumers can try to avoid drinking pesticides in their tea by switching to brands certified as organic, although this is not an absolute guarantee of purity. Eating organically grown fruits and vegetables - which are more expensive than non-organic - can also help minimize pesticide exposure. Losing weight also releases pesticide residues stored in fat, eliminating them from the body.

But Nemiroff's story illustrates that it is virtually impossible to completely avoid food contaminated with pesticides even when someone goes out of her way to try. Pesticides, wrote Carson three decades ago, are "as crude a weapon as the cave man's club," a chemical barrage "hurled against the fabric of life."

"The contamination of our world," she continued, "is not alone a matter of mass spraying. Indeed, for most of us this is of less importance than the innumerable small-scale exposures to which we are subjected day by day, year after year. Like the constant dripping of water that in turn wears away the hardest stone, this birth-to-death contact with dangerous chemicals may in the end prove disastrous."

[shanstress70]

Sorry, but more good than bad can be found about tea...

1 - Tea is among the richest natural sources of antioxidants, which have been linked with cancer prevention, decreased risk of stroke, and reduced blood cholesterol. Additionally, it has trace amounts of various nutrients such as the amino acid theanine; the minerals calcium, magnesium, manganese and potassium; and the vitamins C and K.

Naturally occurring antioxidants are nutrients found in most plants, including fruits and vegetables. They bind free radicals and peroxides--both of which are oxygen-containing molecules in your body that, if left unchecked, can damage your DNA, cell membranes and other cell components. The process of breaking down food for energy creates free radicals and peroxides in your body everyday. Antioxidants help your body keep these harmful substances in check.

All teas contain similar amount of antioxidants, including a class called flavonoids, which are found in most plants common in the human diet. Of the more common flavonoids, Green Teas contain more of the simple flavonoids called catechins, while the oxidization that the leaves undergo to make Black Tea converts these simple flavonoids to the more complex varieties called theaflavins and thearubigins.

2 - An ordinary cup of tea may be a powerful infection fighter, L-theanine, a study suggests. Researchers report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that they have found in tea a chemical that boosts the body's defense fivefold against disease.

3 - Studies published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and the Journal of The American Heart Association are supporting the idea that drinking tea may help in recovery after a heart attack.

4 - The USDA recently announced that drinking black tea may lower bad cholesterol levels and could one day be used to help reduce the chance of heart disease! To learn more, go to "Drinking Tea May Lower Bad Cholesterol - USDA Study".

5 - Numerous studies have suggested that regular consumption of black tea is protective against a host of human cancers. Now scientists think they know why.

Black tea's 'secret weapon' may be a compound called theaflavin-3'-monogallate (TF-2), one of a family of potent anti-cancer compounds called polyphenols.

[Spencer]

antioxidants you want? Why not oregano?

Herbs Rich Source of Healthy Antioxidants; Oregano Ranks Highest

Better health may be only a dash and sprinkle away: Researchers with the U.S. Department of Agriculture have found that herbs, in addition to making food tastier, are an abundant source of antioxidants and could provide potential anticancer benefits when supplementing a balanced diet.

Herbs have higher antioxidant activity than fruits, vegetables and some spices, including garlic, the researchers say. Some herbs should be considered as regular vegetables. People should use more herbs for flavoring instead of salt and artificial chemicals.

In what may be good news for pizza lovers and Italian food connoisseurs everywhere, the herbs with the highest antioxidant activity belonged to the oregano family. In general, oregano had 3 to 20 times higher antioxidant activity than the other herbs studied.

On a per gram fresh weight basis, oregano and other herbs ranked even higher in antioxidant activity than fruits and vegetables, which are known to be high in antioxidants. In comparison to the antioxidant activities of a few select fruits and vegetables, the potency of oregano ranks supreme: Oregano has 42 times more antioxidant activity than apples, 30 times more than potatoes, 12 times more than oranges and 4 times more than blueberries.

For example, one tablespoon of fresh oregano contains the same antioxidant activity as one medium-sized apple, she says.

Adding a moderate amount of herbs may go a long way toward boosting the health value of a meal, especially as an alternative to salt and artificial additives.

Even if you're not into oregano, other herbs also appear to pack a significant antioxidant punch. Among the more familiar, ranked in order, are dill, garden thyme, rosemary and peppermint.

The most active phenol component in some of the herbs with the highest antioxidant activity, particularly oregano, was rosmarinic acid, a strong antioxidant.

Antioxidants have become synonymous with good health. They are a class of compounds thought to prevent certain types of chemical damage caused by an excess of free radicals, charged molecules that are generated by a variety of sources including pesticides, smoking and exhaust fumes. Destroying free radicals may help fight cancer, heart disease and stroke, researchers believe.

Fruits and vegetables have long been viewed as a rich source of antioxidant compounds. Health officials have been urging consumers for years to eat more fruits and vegetables in order to gain the health benefits of antioxidants, but progress has been slow, according to researchers.

More recently, researchers have begun to formally study the health benefits of herbs and spices. The two differ mainly by source. Herbs typically come from the leaves of plants. Spices come from the bark, stem and seeds of plants. Both have been used for thousands of years to flavor foods and treat illness.

Now, herbs have emerged as a quick and easy way to get a concentrated source of antioxidants - without all the extra calories of whole foods.

Herbs can be consumed in a variety of ways. Some people prefer to drink herb extracts, which can be made by adding herbs to hot water to make potent antioxidant teas. Others use concentrated herbal oils available in some health food stories. Most of us prefer a little dash and sprinkle of the familiar leafy or powdered versions to add flavor to our favorite meats and vegetables.

In general, fresh herbs and spices are healthier and contain higher antioxidant levels compared to their processed counterparts. For example, the antioxidant activity of fresh garlic is 1.5 times higher than dry garlic powder.

Just as consuming too much of any food product can carry health risks, herbs should be used with moderation.

Whatever form they take, herbs are no substitute for a balanced diet. Pregnant women in particular should consult their physicians before taking herbal supplements.

Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry November 2001

[shanstress70]

That is true - oregano is an antioxidant, but can you get all of the other benefits that I listed from it? Doubt it! I'm not trying to start an argument here. Just trying to point out that tea supposedly has a lot of health benefits. One has to wonder why it is prohibited - surely not for health reasons.

[Spencer]

What other health benefits? I am not trying to argue either. Im just saying there are other sources. Maybe Tea wasnt meant to be in the WoW? But fact is there are other sources to get those helth benefits from.

Have a cactus pear =)

Aug. 19, 2004 -- Want to improve your health? Eat fresh fruit, instead of popping vitamin pills.

Eating cactus pear fruit, which is packed with vitamin C and other antioxidants, is superior to taking pills, a new study shows.

Research has shown that antioxidants in foods can help prevent heart disease, cancer, and other diseases. But studies of pure vitamin supplements have not shown impressive health benefits.

Cactus pear fruit, also known as prickly pear, is more complex, containing vitamins and substances that may act as antioxidants, writes researcher Luisa Tesoriere, PhD, with the Universida de Palermo in Italy. Her study appears in the latest issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

The cactus pear is common in Mexico, Latin America, South Africa, and the Mediterranean. In a previous study, Tesoriere's research group showed that the fruit of the cactus pear plant is a rich source of antioxidants.

But how does cactus pear fruit measure up against vitamin C supplements? Do they affect the body differently? That's what Tesoriere looks at in her current study.

The 18 healthy people in her two-week study were divided into two groups: half ate 250 grams of fresh cactus pear fruit daily; the other half took a 75-milligram vitamin C tablet twice daily. Then after a six-week break, they switched. Their blood was analyzed both before and after each two-week session.

Tesoriere found that both the cactus pear and vitamin C supplement groups had higher vitamin C and E levels. However, after eating cactus pear fruit, volunteers had more signs of antioxidant effects than the vitamin-C group. The researchers aren't sure why vitamin E levels went up since neither cactus pear nor vitamin C supplements are a source of vitamin E.

The researchers suggest that the antioxidant properties of cactus pear fruit come from vitamin C as well as other nutrients that also exhibit antioxidant properties.

SOURCE: Tesoriere, L. Journal of Clinical Nutrition; Aug. 2004; vol 80: pp 391-395.

[shanstress70]

Originally posted by Spencer@Oct 29 2004, 01:42 PM

What other health benefits? I am not trying to argue either. Im just saying there are other sources. Maybe Tea wasnt meant to be in the WoW? But fact is there are other sources to get those helth benefits from.

Have a cactus pear =)

Aug. 19, 2004 -- Want to improve your health? Eat fresh fruit, instead of popping vitamin pills.

Eating cactus pear fruit, which is packed with vitamin C and other antioxidants, is superior to taking pills, a new study shows.

Research has shown that antioxidants in foods can help prevent heart disease, cancer, and other diseases. But studies of pure vitamin supplements have not shown impressive health benefits.

Cactus pear fruit, also known as prickly pear, is more complex, containing vitamins and substances that may act as antioxidants, writes researcher Luisa Tesoriere, PhD, with the Universida de Palermo in Italy. Her study appears in the latest issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

The cactus pear is common in Mexico, Latin America, South Africa, and the Mediterranean. In a previous study, Tesoriere's research group showed that the fruit of the cactus pear plant is a rich source of antioxidants.

But how does cactus pear fruit measure up against vitamin C supplements? Do they affect the body differently? That's what Tesoriere looks at in her current study.

The 18 healthy people in her two-week study were divided into two groups: half ate 250 grams of fresh cactus pear fruit daily; the other half took a 75-milligram vitamin C tablet twice daily. Then after a six-week break, they switched. Their blood was analyzed both before and after each two-week session.

Tesoriere found that both the cactus pear and vitamin C supplement groups had higher vitamin C and E levels. However, after eating cactus pear fruit, volunteers had more signs of antioxidant effects than the vitamin-C group. The researchers aren't sure why vitamin E levels went up since neither cactus pear nor vitamin C supplements are a source of vitamin E.

The researchers suggest that the antioxidant properties of cactus pear fruit come from vitamin C as well as other nutrients that also exhibit antioxidant properties.

SOURCE: Tesoriere, L. Journal of Clinical Nutrition; Aug. 2004; vol 80: pp 391-395.

Right, you can get those health benefits from other foods. But I don't know of ONE SOURCE that has ALL of those benefits.

And in the article you posted about DDT in green tea, it says this: "The pesticides were found in tiny amounts, in parts per billion, and pose no imminent health danger. DDT accumulates in our bodies and is carried in breast tissue, so ingesting contaminated tea is certainly undesirable. But the experts say that the benefits of drinking green tea probably outweigh the risks."

But I don't even think anyone knew of green tea in Joseph Smith's day. I'm almost certain he was referring to black tea.

Plus, who the heck can get a cactus fruit pear?

[shanstress70]

Originally posted by Spencer@Oct 29 2004, 01:42 PM

What other health benefits?

I think you missed them in my earlier post. More was listed after antioxidants...

...infection fighter, helps recover from heart attack more quickly, lowers cholesterol levels, lowers risk of cancer

[Spencer]

Shrug, there are many more sources.

I think the more important point is how did DDT get there? as it was banned by the United States in 1972.

[Spencer]

In the ongoing war that is waged inside our bodies, antioxidants represent our front line of defense against major health conditions such as heart disease, cancer and macular degeneration. Today these conditions are very prevalent amongst consumers and organizations such as the American Heart Association (AHA), Dallas, TX, and the National Cancer Institute (NCI), Bethesda, MD, suggest that more people will continue to be affected by such diseases in years to come.

http://www.nutraceuticalsworld.com/March031.htm

Anyway time to go home, catch you all later!

[shanstress70]

Originally posted by Spencer@Oct 29 2004, 01:56 PM

Shrug, there are many more sources.

I think the more important point is how did DDT get there? as it was banned by the United States in 1972.

From what I read, it got there because most green tea is produced in India and China. Maybe they haven't banned DDT. It is kind of weird.

[Guest curvette]

Spencer, this article really has very little to do with green tea, but a lot to do with the food supply in general. This woman started drinking green tea AFTER her cancer. While the first analysis of her brand of tea showed trace amounts of DDT, a separate analysis of another batch of it didn't. DDT is a problem because it's showing up in foods that are grown in places that should not have DDT contamination. Apparantly, it contaminates the soil for many years after it's use, not just the food that it was growing when the pesticide was being used. This applies to all foods. I'd be much more concerned about imported fruits and vegetables than green tea.