natural news, roundups, collections, and
resources related to natural health,
organic food and green living

In recent studies, the benefits of drinking green tea daily have been noted again and again. In many Asian lands, green tea is a staple, and surely has led to many health benefits for countless men and women.

This article provides links to 7 recent articles that discuss studies conducted for the purpose of examining the many benefits of drinking green tea.

Sources include Science Daily, Life Extension Foundation, Reuters, and Times of India.

1. New Evidence That Green Tea May Help Improve Bone Health

Researchers in Hong Kong are reporting new evidence that green tea — one of the most popular beverages consumed worldwide and now available as a dietary supplement — may help improve bone health. They found that the tea contains a group of chemicals that can stimulate bone formation and help slow its breakdown.

The beverage has the potential to help in the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis and other bone diseases that affect million worldwide, the researchers suggest.

2. Green Tea May Protect Against Blood Cell Cancer

Drinking five or more cups of green tea per day may reduce the risk of blood- and lymph-based cancers by about 50 per cent, says a new study from Japan.

Compared to people who drank only one cup per day, five cups of green tea a day were associated with a 42 per cent reduction in hematologic malignancies, and a 48 per cent risk reduction in lymphoid neoplasms, according to findings published in the American Journal of Epidemiology.

3. Green Tea Could Delay Prostate Cancer

Active compounds in green tea may slow down the progression of prostate cancer, researchers reported on Friday.

Capsules made using green tea extracts called polyphenols lowered levels of proteins that tumors use to grow, the researchers found.

4. Five Cups of Green Tea Best Defense Against Cancer

If you`re looking to cut back on your five cups of coffee a day but are at a loss for what to replace your coffee-fill with, green tea is the perfect substitution solution.

The latest study to tout the benefits of green tea hails from the Tohoku School of Medicine based in Japan, a country whose population is awash in green tea consumption (the most commonly consumed beverage in a country of 127 million).

5. Green Tea Extract Fights Leukemia

In an article appearing online on May 26, 2009 in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Mayo Clinic researchers report positive effects for a green tea compound known as epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) in a phase I trial involving patients with early stage chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Chronic lymphocytic leukemia, the most common subtype of leukemia in the United States, is a cancer of the blood and bone marrow that is characterized by abnormal proliferation of white blood cells known as lymphocytes. Half of the patients with early stage CLL have an aggressive form of the disease which increases the risk of early mortality.

6. Green Tea Linked to Less Stomach Cancer in Women

As if you needed another reason to drink green tea: Japanese women, but not Japanese men, who regularly drink 5 or more cups daily appear about 20 percent less likely to develop stomach cancer, study findings hint.

Researchers have studied green tea in cancer prevention because they suspect that the drink’s antioxidants may protect against the deadly disease. In particular, it may include compounds that fight bacteria that have been linked to stomach cancer.

7. Green Tea Cuts Heart Disease Risk

To reach the conclusion, researchers from Okayama University tracked the health of more than 12,000 elderly people living in Japan. The men and women were aged between 65 and 84. In the study, the volunteers were asked to fill out questionnaires on lifestyle factors including details of diet, smoking and alcohol intake, reports The Daily Express.

During the following seven years more than 1,200 of the volunteers died. However, when all questionnaires were analysed, scientists found that the more green tea the participants had drunk, the less likely they were to have died. This, especially, was true of cardiovascular disease.