It has been quite some time since I posted here. My site has gotten out of date and needs some revamping which I will try to get to soon.
In the meantime I want to start adding content here again and I’m going to start with this video from youtube for making some green tea ice cream using matcha green tea. She says it’s worthwhile to use a good quality green tea. Hope this video embed correctly in here. Enjoy.
Filed under Tea Recipes by on Jul 26th, 2010. 
Just a little bit of news I searched out to find out what the latest was on the health benefits of tea. You know they are always researching to see what more this wonderful drink can provide us.
Reduce Ovarian Cancer with Tea
In a study by the Queensland Institute of Medical Research in Brisbane, Australia published in May 2010, the researchers came to the conclusion that a hypothesis that drinking tea every day reduces the risk of ovarian cancer is supported. According to the data they went through any tea drinking helps but drinking four cups or more is the best.
And it doesn’t matter what kind of tea you drink. However, the data presented, as compared to those who don’t drink tea, women who drank black tea had the best odds ratios followed by green tea and then herbal tea. Then again the study leader, Dr. Nagle, stated that the study “…suggests that drinking one or more cups green tea per day may reduce your risk of developing ovarian cancer by 40%.”.
Tea Has Anti Aging Effects
Everyone knows your mental abilities decline as you get older. Phooey! However, findings that were presented at the International Conference on Alzheimer’s Disease 2010 tell us that in people over 65, drinking tea has positive affects on your brain.
Those who drank tea regularly had a 17 – 37% less cognitive decline when compared to people who don’t drink it. WooHoo! I drink it every day so sounds good to me. If I’m reading this article http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-data-suggest-regular-tea-drinking-may-protect-against-cognitive-decline-98227754.html correctly, the ones who got the 37% were actually the ones who drank it one to four times a week and not those who drank it more than 5 times a week. Oh, well. It has other great health benefits too.
Filed under Health Benefits of Tea by on Jul 28th, 2010.
Is There Too Much of Good Thing When It Comes to Black Tea?
In findings presented 25 July 2010 at the 2010 International Association of Dental Research Conference, Dr. Gary Whitford who is a professor at the Medical College of Georgia, School of Dentistry said that black tea
This conclusion started with four patients with skeletal fluorosis who had one thing in common. They drank excessive amounts of black tea every day. I love my tea and in the south I know drinking iced tea is a big thing but one to two GALLONS of tea a day?! And they drank it for 10 to 30 years.
This lead the good doctor to trying to find out if black tea actually has more fluoride than the 1 to 5 milligrams per liter previous reports showed. He created a way to actually measure the amount of fluoride including that in aluminum fluoride which previous studies had not been able to measure. That raised the result to “as much as 9 milligrams” per liter.
When you learn that it only takes 20 milligrams daily to become a health hazard, you can understand why drinking over a gallon a day becomes a problem. Of course, the researchers said you had to do this for over 10 years to create the bone and joint problems. Additionally too much fluoride can be a problem to people’s thyroids if they have low iodine intake and if they have kidney disease.
These findings were based on results from seven brands of store bought black tea. Apparently the tea plant absorbs and accumulates large concentrations of fluoride and aluminum. When you steep your black tea, these minerals leach out into the water. If your water source is fluoridated, you are compounding the problem. Guess that makes a good case for bottled water with no added fluoride.
Good News About Black Tea and Theaflavins for Allergies
Now turning to some good news about black tea
Black tea has lots less polyphenols than green tea. This new study focused on theaflavins in black tea instead and particularly two: theaflavin-3-gallate and theaflavin-3,3-digallate (TFDG).
What the study found was these two theaflavins kept mice, or actually their bodies, from producing pro-inflammatory cytokines. That means no or much lowered inflammation in the body.
When the mice were either given an injection or fed the theaflavins, there was "... significant preventive effects against mouse type IV allergy" which also didn't raise the oxidant levels in the mice either. A type IV allergy is known as a "delayed type hypersensitivity" which can cause the allergic response up to 24 hours later. That has to be tough. But if you have it, drinking black tea
Filed under black tea, Health Benefits of Tea by on Jul 30th, 2010.