What is only recently being recognized as a prized culinary health beverage in the West has been well known to the East for thousands of years.

The new science of nutrition is rediscovering the many acclaimed health benefits of these ancient green teas.

The oldest story on record tells us more than 4700 years ago the Chinese Emperor Shen Nung experienced green tea for the first time when some leaves happen to fall into his boiling water. As the story goes, the Emperor’s enthusiasm about the tea caught on quickly.

Thousands of years later, a man named Lu Yu authored “The Book of Tea” around 780 AD. These same health claims reported by Lu Yu are only now being verified by Western scientific studies.

It may surprise you to learn that both green tea and black tea come from the same Camelia sinensis plant. It is the green tea leaves which represents the purest form of tea and contains less processing than black teas. Green tea is lightly steamed to help retain the beneficial phytonutrients and distinct flavor.

Once again, we find naturally simple is better.

Later, around the 16th Century, Venetian and Portuguese traders introduced the tea further west. But, not until the mid 17th Century did green tea become popular to tea-totters in London.

Today, the whole world knows of the amazing health benefits of green tea. The naturally high level of anti-oxidants released from the highly alkaline green tea leaves have been clinically shown to help ward of diabetes and heart disease, as well as cancer and obesity.

Green tea contains phytonutrients such as polyphenols, catechins, carotenoids, tocopherols, vitamin C, chromium, manganese, selenium and even zinc.

Various studies show promise for helping kidney stones, high blood pressure, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases. Green tea actually helps rescue damaged brain cells in a process called Neurorescue or Neurorestoration.

This appears to be only the beginning of proving the many benefits of this natural healing wonder.

Obviously, western science will have to do many more studies before they “accept” what the ancients discovered a long, long time ago . . . which is for every unnatural health issue caused by man, Mama Nature has a natural cure.

P.S. The powerful alkalizing ability combined with the nutritional profile of organic green tea makes it a favorite alternative for health conscious people.

Source:

Kuriyama S, Shimazu T, Ohmori K, et al. (September 2006). “Green tea consumption and mortality due to cardiovascular disease, cancer, and all causes in Japan: the Ohsaki study”. JAMA 296 (10): 1255-65. doi:10.1001/jama.296.10.1255. PMID 16968850. http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/pmidlookup?view=long&pmid=16968850.


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