Singapore, January 18, 2008 - A new study between key collaborators, the National Neuroscience Institute (NNI) and the National University of Singapore (NUS) showed for the first time that drinking black tea, but not green tea, reduced the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease (PD) among the Chinese population in Singapore. The findings, which are published in the on-line issue of American Journal of Epidemiology in December 2007, suggest that black tea may exhibit neuroprotective effects on Parkinson’s disease. The findings were also presented and won the second prize for Best Research Presentation Award at the 1^st Asian and Oceanian Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders Congress (AOPMC) that was held in Singapore during October 2007.

Parkinson’s disease is a progressive and degenerative neurological disease for which there is currently no cure. It affects all cultures and races, with an estimated worldwide prevalence of 6.3 million people. The exact cause of the disease remains unknown.

There has always been a lack of data from Asian populations on dietary and lifestyle factors associated with Parkinson’s disease (PD). Between 1993 and 2005, the researchers examined these factors in relation to Parkinson’s disease in the Singapore Chinese Health Study, a cohort of 63,257 Chinese men and women. Data was collected through in-person interviews using structured questionnaires. All 157 incident PD cases were identified either through follow-up interviews or via linkage with hospital databases.

The results of this first community-based study of Parkinson’s disease risk factors in an Asian population showed that individuals who had a higher dietary intake of caffeine were less likely to develop Parkinson’s disease. This has been shown in several large population-based studies in USA and Europe. A novel finding in this paper was that black tea intake also reduced the risk for developing Parkinson’s disease. This inverse association between black tea and Parkinson’s disease was found to be unrelated to the caffeine content in black tea, suggesting that its protective effects are mediated through mechanisms other then caffeine. Green tea, in contrast, did not show any significant protective effects on Parkinson’s disease in the study. The researchers intend to follow-up this cohort further to identify other factors that may affect an individual’s risk of developing Parkinson’s disease, as well as understand the mechanism of black tea’s protective effect on Parkinson’s disease.

“We had observed an inverse association between consumption of black tea and the risk of Parkinson’s disease in the Chinese population residing in Singapore. Our research is a very promising first step to identify dietary and lifestyle factors related to Parkinson’s disease in an Asian context. More studies will be needed before we can firmly establish the protective effect of black tea on PD and understand its underlying mechanism. Such research will enable NNI’s group of researchers to develop strategies to prevent or reduce the progression of this debilitating neurodegenerative condition” said Dr Louis Tan, senior consultant neurologist at NNI-TTSH who is leading the study together with Dr Koh Woon Puay, Assistant Professor from Community, Occupational and Family Medicine Department, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore.

On the uniqueness of the study, Dr Koh Woon Puay said “To our knowledge, this is the first prospective cohort study of Parkinson Disease risk factors in a non-white population living in Asia. Singapore Chinese are well suited for the study of coffee, green tea and black tea consumption and health outcomes since all three types of beverages possess divergent intake profiles in this population. Other strengths of the study are its population-based design and the collection of data on tea-drinking prior to disease diagnosis.”

Source: Natural Neuroscience Institute

Findings Published in August Issue of Journal of Nutrition NEW YORK, July 18

On Saturday June 21st, AuthoriTea Blog at: http://authoritea.blogspot.com wrote:

Description: Organic Assam Tea, Organic Green Cardamom, Organic Cinnamon, Organic Cloves, Organic Fennel & Organic Ginger.

Review: I love that Yogic Chai exists. These people make the most amazing chai blends ever. I pretty much never drank chai before these started showing up in the mail, and I’ve continued to be disappointed in most other chai, especially compared to these blends. The whole ingredients, delicious flavor combos and the amazing smells that come from these blends are unbeatable.

I specifically asked for this blend because there’s no taste I love more than licorice. This tea is pungent for sure, with a lot of other tastes — cloves, cinnamon, ginger, etc — but the fennel takes the cake. There is so much fennel in this blend! I love the flavor, it’s subtle but the black tea is strong and the backdrop of other flavors reinforces this blend. I think I’d drink this slightly sweetened with no milk or anything, but maybe with some honey or agave nectar or raw sugar.

I still think that the Kuki is my favorite because the ginger is so strong and it is so naturally sweet, but this fennel blend is definitely one of my favorites. It is delicious and has a licorice taste. With or without any additives, this is an incredible blend if you love fennel or herbal flavors. If you’re looking for a good chai blend, Yogic Chai is the place to buy from.

The Good: delicious flavor, licorice and other spices very prevalent, would be amazing sweetened, but is amazing without as well!
The Bad: none!

Tea is rich in polyphenols, natural plant compounds with potent antibacterial and antiviral properties. The polyphenols in tea also serve as powerful antioxidants.

In the body, these agents help neutralize free radicals — high-energy molecules that contribute to the development of a number of deadly diseases, including cancer.

The antioxidants in tea aren’t the only ingredients that make it a powerful weapon in the war on cancer. A compound called epigallocatechin gallate (EGCg) appears to squelch an enzyme necessary for the growth of cancer cells.

When researchers at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine applied EGCg to healthy and cancerous mouse cells, they found that the agent helped wipe out the cancer cells without harming the healthy ones.

Harvard scientists reported that the EGCg in tea has protective powers against cancers of the digestive tract. The researchers concluded that EGCg triggers the production of proteins that can repair DNA damage before it leads to cancerous changes in the esophagus or stomach.

In a study published in the medical journal Archives of Internal Medicine, researchers reported that women who drank two or more cups of tea per day had a 45 percent lower risk of ovarian cancer compared to women who never drank tea. Each additional daily cup of tea was associated with an 18 percent reduction in the risk of developing ovarian cancer.

A growing body of evidence suggests that drinking tea is good for your heart. In a study conducted at Boston University, researchers asked 50 men and women diagnosed with heart disease to drink four cups of black tea daily for four weeks.

Just two hours after downing the first cup, investigators found that drinking tea promoted widening of the subjects’ arteries and significantly improved their blood flow. Both actions have beneficial effects on the heart.

In addition to warding off cancer and heart disease, tea may boost the protective powers of the immune system. Drinking tea increases production of interferon, a substance known to play a key role in protecting the body against infection.

When researchers at Harvard Medical Center asked adult volunteers to drink five cups of black tea each day for four weeks, they found that their blood cells secreted five times more interferon than before they began drinking tea.

The results of a new study conducted by an international team of researchers from the University of Maryland and Cardiff University suggest that black tea could be an important line of defense against the threat of bioterrorism. The scientists reported that black tea can thwart the bacteria responsible for anthrax, a potentially deadly disease.

In March 2008, Egyptian scientists reported that green tea can help beat drug-resistant superbugs. Natural compounds in the beverage dramatically boost the action of antibiotics, making them up to three times more effective at killing disease-causing bacteria.

Recent animal studies suggest that drinking tea may be a simple, inexpensive way to help prevent diabetes and many of its complications. Researchers at the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania found that when diabetic rats drank the human equivalent of five cups of green or black tea daily, their blood sugar levels dropped and they had a reduced risk of developing cataracts and other diabetic complications.

Drinking tea has long been associated with relaxation, and now there’s scientific proof. In the medical journal Psychopharmacology, British researchers reported that regular consumption of tea helps individuals recover more quickly from the stresses of everyday life.

The results of the study demonstrated that drinking tea not only helps normalize stress hormones in the body, it can lower stress-related rises in blood pressure and heart rate.

When it comes to tasty, health-promoting beverages, tea is hard to beat. The next time your coffee break rolls around, you might want to consider having a cup of tea, instead

Source: Click here!

Dr. Michael D. Brown, an associate professor of medicine at Rush University, recently performed a clinical trial study focusing on the use of ginger to reduce nausea associated with prep for a routine colonoscopy.

The study found that a dose of 2 grams of powdered ginger reduced the amount of nausea and vomiting for nearly 19 percent of people who received it. Since the study was done in six months ago, patients routine receive a couple of grams of powdered ginger if they are feeling nauseated, Brown said.

He also said ginger is used as a treatment for nausea related to chemotherapy. Lollipops with ginger are sold in the hospital gift shop for the children who are undergoing chemotherapy, Brown said. Caplets are provided for adults.

Ginger can also relieve motion sickness. “I keep some [ginger lollipops] in the back of my car, so when my daughter gets sick, she can suck on one,” Brown said.

Source: click here!

By now, it’s obvious that smoking can lead to disease, and that eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables can protect against disease. Now researchers have discovered that natural chemicals in fruits and vegetables, as well as in wine and tea, might protect smokers against one disease in particular—lung cancer.

A team of researchers in California investigated the effects of natural plant components called flavonoids in 558 people with lung cancer and 837 people without lung cancer. Researchers interviewed the participants about their history of smoking, diet, and other cancer risk factors and compared these factors between lung cancer cases and healthy controls.

Smokers who had high levels of certain flavonoids had a lower risk of developing lung cancer, the researchers reported in the journal, Cancer. This is a particularly significant finding, considering that smoking is implicated in up to 90 percent of lung cancer cases, according to Zuo-Feng Zhang, MD, PhD, Professor of Epidemiology at the UCLA School of Public Health and Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Smokers who ate three servings of vegetables, drank tea, and had a glass of wine each day had a lower risk of lung cancer than those who didn’t incorporate these components into their diets. Among the flavonoids that appeared to be most beneficial were catechin (found in green tea, black tea, red wine, strawberries), quercetin (found in apples, onions, beans), and kaempferol (found in red wine, apples, Brussels sprouts).

Flavonoids appear to protect against lung cancer in several ways: they prevent cancer cells from multiplying, trigger a process of programmed cancer cell death (apoptosis), block the formation of blood vessels that feed tumors, and inhibit the action of highly unstable oxidative molecules in the body called free radicals, among other functions.

The reason flavonoids affected lung cancer development in smokers but not in non-smokers might be that their antioxidant properties work specifically on the type of damaging molecules created by tobacco smoking. “Smoking results in increased oxidative stress and DNA damage, leading to lung cancer, and flavonoids’ antioxidant function may reduce the damage from tobacco smoking,” according to Dr. Zhang.

Why certain flavonoids are more protective against lung cancer development than others is still unknown. “Our results will encourage laboratory scientists to work on cell lines and animal models to find out why some flavonoids can, and some can’t protect against cancer development among smokers,” Dr. Zhang says. His team will also investigate which types of vegetables, and how many servings might offer the greatest protection against lung cancer.

Because this is the first study to document the effects of flavonoids on lung cancer, more research is needed before any real health recommendations can be made. However, it’s very clear from this and past research that quitting smoking, avoiding passive smoking, and eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables may be a good way to protect against lung cancer, as well as other diseases.

Source:
http://www.cancermonthly.com/iNP/view.asp?ID=215

Clove contains the antioxidant Eugenol, a volatile oil that has been used to treat joint and skin inflammation and as a natural topical pain killer. Cloves help fight cancer of the digestive tract. Cloves have anti-inflammatory and antibacterial effects and make a great mouth wash and sore throat spray.

Cardamom contains the antioxidant Cineole that is another cure all. Cardamom detoxifies the body, boosts the immune system, calms the nervous system, and is also used to treat asthma, digestion problems and urinary tract infections. Chewing the seeds will help freshen the breath. Helps fight cancer of the kidneys and stomach.

This root-like spice contains polyphenols, a group of powerful anti-inflammatory compounds. Studies show that one half to one gram (about a half teaspoon) of ginger daily can reduce joint pain, offering runners an alternative to ibuprofen for postrun aches.

http://www.newsday.co.tt/features/0,79756.html

Dr Richard Anderson, a chemist at the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), was searching for foods that might mimic the action of insulin in controlling blood sugar (glucose) levels.

He found a class of water-soluble compounds in cinnamon called polyphenol type-A polymers to have the ability to boost insulin’s activity about 20 fold.

This insulin boosting property of cinnamon will benefit people with high sugar levels (pre-diabetics and diabetics).

In June 2006, a new study shows that daily supplementation with water-soluble extract of cinnamon helps to improve sugar levels in people with type 2 diabetes.

In this study, 79 diabetics took the supplement three times daily. After four months, their fasting blood sugar levels improved by 10.3%.

Furthermore, diabetics who had higher initial blood sugar levels benefited more from taking the supplement.

Water-soluble cinnamon extract also has excellent antioxidant properties.

In October 2006, a new study presented at the 47th American College of Nutrition demonstrated that water-soluble cinnamon extract may provide protective antioxidant effects in reducing free radical damage associated with high blood sugar levels.

Additionally, the study showed improved blood sugar control.

The results of this study further support the role of cinnamon extract in helping people suffering from impaired insulin function and pre-diabetes.

(Note: Water-soluble cinnamon polyphenol type A polymers extract is 70% more effective than whole cinnamon itself and avoids the potentially harmful allergic side-effects that can occur when using high doses of whole cinnamon.)