In a study testing the preventative action of green tea, a team of researchers from the Department of
Preventive Medicine at the University of Southern California (U.S.C) found that green tea prevented
breast cancer in women by 30 percent if they consumed about ½ cup per day. If they drank more than
that, their risk of developing breast cancer was further reduced. Women who regularly drank black tea, on
the other hand, didn't have a reduction in their breast cancer risk. The good news is that this study
revealed that you don’t need to drink buckets full of green tea to benefit from it.
The best green tea comes from the Shizuoka area in Japan; it grows organically and has no additives.
People living in this area have a much lower cancer rate than those living in other areas of Japan. A
reliable brand is Sencha sold by Kurimoto Trading Co., Japan. With over 130 ingredients, it is the richest
of all green teas. Other brands are Ocha or Bancha; you should be able to find at least one of them at a
good health food store.
Note: The effectiveness of green tea depends on how you prepare it. Take 1½ teaspoons of green tea
for two cups of tea. Bring water to a boil and turn the heat off. Put the tea into a pot and pour the boiled
water over the tea as soon as the water has stopped bubbling. After no longer than 35-45 seconds, pour the
tea through a sieve into a teapot, otherwise the tea loses much of its effectiveness. You may use the same
leaves a second time by applying the same procedure.
Does Green Tea Contain Toxins?
Some web sites on the Internet claim that tea is very high in fluoride content. Fluoride in tea is
supposedly much higher than the Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) set for fluoride in drinking water.
Another site confirms that information, adding that the typical cup of tea exceeds one milligram of
fluoride, which is well over the recommended amount for fluoridated drinking water. On yet another site,
it says that fluorine and its compounds in food are entirely different from chemically-produced sodium
fluoride. It states that once an element is extracted from the soil and incorporated into plant life, its
properties change greatly. All this can be greatly confusing for those concerned about fluoride poisoning.
Yes, fluoride is found in tea and also in mother's milk. This applies also to areas where there is no
fluoride in the drinking water or air. Numerous plants contain naturally occurring fluorine or fluoride
compounds. The hideous version of fluoride that is added to drinking water in so many parts of the world
is the poison we ought to protect ourselves against. “Fluoride, once touted as an osteoporosis treatment,
is, in fact, toxic to bone cells,” says John R. Lee M.D. Thankfully, the American Dental Association,
which has for many years been one of fluoride's biggest advocates, changed course when it alerted its
members in 2006 that parents of infants younger than a year old “should consider using water that has no
or low levels of fluoride” when mixing baby formula.
If the naturally occurring fluoride in green tea were even remotely toxic (like the fluoride added to
drinking water), it would not have shown to have such a wide range of preventive and curative effects.
The body’s immune system would reactively respond to it and become weakened in the process, yet quite
the opposite is true. Green tea inhibits cell mutation, stimulates digestion and enhances brain functions.
Synthetic fluoride has the exact opposite effects.
The fluoride—or fluorine—that occurs naturally in tea and other foods is so volatile that most of it
evaporates in the heating process. The synthetic sodium fluoride added to water, on the other hand,
remains stable when heated. So the sodium fluoride in your cup of tea is of much greater concern than the
natural fluoride in the tea itself. Excessive fluoride intake can lead to hyperthyroidism. If you have been
diagnosed with this disorder you should consult with a doctor of Ayurveda, Chinese Medicine or an ND