Green tea

What’s with the recent obsession with green tea for its alleged medicinal properties?

Every weekend I turn on the radio, and I’ll hear on at least 3 major stations, and all day long is people talking about how great green tea is. Here’s a short list of the supposed healing powers of green tea, courtesy of the Beauty Blog.

• promotes blood circulation
• increases the body’s natural resistance
• helps with oxygenation
• helps achieve “greater harmony”
• improves the body’s ability to handle the external physical and     psycological [sic] pressures of life
• prevents tooth decay and maketeeth more resistant to acids
• promote digestion and cleanses the body internally
• tea drinkers say that they actually feel less tired and brightens their whole outlook

So anything this wonderful, of course makes me immediately suspicious. It sounds like alternative medicine to me, which I immediately wary of, because proponents almost invariably exaggerate the benefits, if there are any.

doing some quick poking around at scienceblogs, I found some mixed results. The Angry Toxicologist found some incorrect reporting in a major news outlet about green tea. Respectful Insolence found a study, the title of which was more enthusiastic than the results indicated.

On the other hand, this webpage from the University of Maryland lists some benefits and references, which I assume are relatively accurate (though I haven’t checked up on all them).

So, for now I conclude that we don’t yet know enough about green tea and the effects on the body to state anything overly positive or negative about it. I know that people who frequent places like the Green Tea blog and forum would like to believe that green tea is the magical mystery cure. However, just from my general experience with biology and medicine, there is rarely any single substance that is a cure all, and that even healthy substances should be rationed appropriately, balance and variety being key to a healthy diet. I also recommend sticking to reputable news sources, try to avoid those radio programs, and make sure to check the sources on all information. When it comes to health, you can afford to be skeptical about miracle elixirs and potions.

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