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For a virus fighter, drink tea

Afraid of winter colds? Forget chicken soup, drink tea.

Immunologists at Harvard University say that black tea drinkers appear better able to fight off viral diseases such as cold and flu. In their study, people who drank five cups of black tea a day for two weeks pumped up their immune system T-cells. These T-cells then cooked up more interferon.

Kayla at Greenfield Villiage The Harvard doctors emphasize that tea will not make you immune to illness, but you could get fewer sicknesses, and those you get will probably be milder. They think the interferon might lessen the impact of viruses.

Meanwhile, at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, researchers credit L-theanine, an ingredient found in black, green, oolong and pekoe teas, but not in herbal teas, as the reason teas helped fight off bacteria linked to food poisoning and ulcers.

Other recent studies have shown that antioxidants and polyphenols in tea might also help prevent stroke, heart attack, arthritis, and even Alzheimer's disease. Tea also aids digestion.

How do you take your tea?

Whether you like it iced or hot, decaffeinated or instant, you
get a boost to better health each time you sip this traditional favorite.

In many studies tea drinkers appear to enjoy better health. An Iowa study showed that
women who drank at least two cups of tea a day had 60 percent less kidney and bladder cancer
and 32 percent less cancer of the esophagus and colon. In the Netherlands, tea drinkers had half
the risk of fatal heart attacks

Tea is brimming with healing antioxidants which survive whether you ice it or drink it hot.
That's good news because about 80 percent of tea consumed in North America is served cold. It
works to fight cancer and heart disease just like the hot stuff. (Never drink tea that's too hot. You
could damage your esophagus.)

Researchers at the University of Kansas in Lawrence say the compound "catechin
EGCG"in tea is a more powerful cancer fighter than vitamin C or vitamin E, much more powerful
in fact. They recommend four cups of tea per day to women at high risk for breast cancer.
Tea in bags produces more antioxidants than tea leaves because more surface area is
exposed to the brewing water. Decaffeinated tea and instant tea have about the same antioxidant
qualities as tea bags.

Green tea is slightly more beneficial, but the best tea is the tea you drink, say the doctors.

You could think of tea as a vegetable broth because a cup of tea has more antioxidant power than a half-cup of broccoli, carrots, spinach, or strawberries, according to Tufts University in Boston.

Tea, however, is definitely not a substitute for these vegetables.

The antioxidant level in tea is stable for 48 hours after brewing. For food safety reasons, it
shouldn't be kept longer than that. Always store brewed tea in the refrigerator.

All about flavonoids

Flavonoids are antimicrobial, anticarcinogenic, and antioxidative. They are the reason red wine and green tea are good for you and why an apple a day might keep the doctor away. Now the Nutrient Data Laboratory of the USDA has compiled a database of many foods.

Cherries appear to have more flavonoids per 100 grams than any other food. Nearly all berries are good sources. Apple peels have more flavonoids than the inside.

Harvard University studied flavonoid content of various types of tea and found: green tea, 139 mg per 100 grams; black tea, 118; decaffeinated green tea, 70; decaffeinated black tea, 58.

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