Green Tea

Japan, Korea, the Middle East and now holistically minded individuals in the United States have come to view green tea not just as a tasty beverage but as a premier vehicle for administering healthful benefits and quite possibly ensuring the possibility of longevity. Cleverly marketed as a tea with a purpose, green tea to some is a medication that is used by holistic healers who are in tune with the working of the human body and who understand that the age old lore of the near and far east is indeed steeped in ancient medicinal knowledge that is has taken the west a long time to recognize and an even longer time to acknowledge. Detractors, on the other hand, wonder if green tea is a medication, drug or hype and do not put too much stock in those who drink it with an earnest mien for medicinal purposes.

Interestingly, of all the substances making the rounds as potential miracle cures or even illness prevention tools, green tea is a bit of an oddity as there are no studies by detractors – neither FDA nor physicians – who can show that the claims made about the substance are untrue. At the same time, the studies commission by those in favor of using green tea as a form of medicine and advocate its being made into a drug do have some studies to back up their claims, showcasing that in this case there is less hype and a lot more medical information that simply is not being heard or used to the fullest potential.

Perhaps this problem may be understood by taking a look at some of the claims made by overeager marketers of the substance. Using terms such as “cancer cure,” “cancer prevention,” “cure for osteoarthritis,” and even “prevention of Alzheimer’s disease,” consumers have been taken in and purchased large quantities of green tea either to drink, to use as a nutritional supplement with meals, to bathe in it, and even to use as a balm! Diet fads have sprung up that are touting green tea as the new grapefruit diet and although none of these claims has been proven, studied, or even found some bona fide physician approval, they are repeated and as such have firmly entered the collective consciousness

While the FDA is not calling green tee medicines an all out fraud, its had followed up on some of the more outlandish claims and has concluded that while more study is needed, the vast majority of the claims made by purveyors of medicinesdrugs, and teas containing this substance is greatly embellished and apparently made for sales reasons only. At the same time, there is some proof that suggests a link between the green tea and the prevention of coronary disease, but dosages have not been determined. At the heart of the matter is the tea’s ability to reduce cholesterol and thus by extension be affiliated with a reduction of the plaque buildup in and on arterial walls that has been recognized as a serious component in the occurrence of heart disease and heart attacks.