Way to massively reduce heart disease risk....

Today's Post: Tuesday, 9-29-2009

In the NewsMax Health Alerts email I get, one of the stories yesterday, Monday,
9-28, had the title: Green Tea Slashes Risk of Disease


Green tea was found to help prevent heart disease related deaths. Researchers at Japan’s Okayama University found that in the 12,000 Japanese men and women between the ages of 65 and 84 that they studied, those who drank large amounts of green tea reduced their risk of dying from heart disease by an average of 76 percent. In addition, their risk of dying from colorectal cancer was reduced by 31 percent.

The study lasted 6 years. By the end of the study, a bit over 1,200 had died, but researchers found that the more green tea they drank, the less likely they were to die.

Compared with those who drank less than a cup of green tea each day, those who drank 7 cups or more lowered their risk of dying from heart disease by an average of 76 %. Men cut their risk by 70 % & women cut their risk by 82 %

The researchers believe these effects were due to the polyphenols, which are antioxidants, in green tea.

Why was this effect found for green tea instead of black tea? The news story said that green tea has between 30 & 40 % polyphenols while black tea, the tea more commonly drunk until now, only has between 3 & 10 % polyphenols.

Since those drinking the higher amounts of green tea did it on their own, the researchers suggested the large reductions in death risks in their study were likely due to consuming green tea over a lifetime. (The people drinking a lot of green tea were likely doing it for many years before the study in other words.)

Many other studies that have shown green tea to be good for your health.

One recent study found that tea drinkers may have younger biological ages than non-tea drinkers enough so they will likely live about 5 years longer.

This recent Japanese study also found a reduction in the risk of developing colorectal cancer.
“To our knowledge, this is the first study that shows the inverse association between green tea and colorectal cancer mortality,” said the researchers.

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Since it is oxidized LDL that creates the most damage in your blood vessels and plaque build up that results in cardiovascular disease, this study suggests that green tea polyphenols or other ingredients in the green tea are antioxidants that tend to be unusually effective in protecting your LDL from becoming oxidized.

It’s less clear how the reduction in colon cancer and deaths from it was caused.

But it is clear that green tea does have some extra health benefits!

When I drank coffee, I often drank enough that the excess caffeine prevented me from getting as good a night’s sleep as I should have.

So, when my reflux caused me to not drink coffee, I’ve found that the same multiple cups of green tea, still help me wake up but without the sleep disruption or increase in anxiety the multiple cups of coffee were causing.

So, if you need maximum caffeine to wake up and for your workday, one way to do both would be to drink a cup of good quality, good tasting coffee when you first get up. But then switch to green tea after that. Another similar plan would be coffee when you first get up & coffee right after lunch and several cups of green tea otherwise.

I’ve not yet found the amount of guaranine or Guarana seed extract in Dr Sears choline punch. But his choline and guaranine “Choline Punch” apparently acts as a time release caffeine pill with built in recharger so that you get the optimum amount of sustained alertness boost. At least so he says. I’ve not yet tried it.

(See www.alsearsmd.com .)

Because the guaranine does have a sustained release over several hours, you do NOT want for safety or your mental status at work to overdo it. But since this product is a drink, it may be possible to start with a few ounces for a few days and gradually try more until you find the amount that works best for you.

So for waking up well while also drinking green tea, you could use this choline punch in a slightly reduced amount and drink several cups of green tea a day also.

The other possibility is that taking a green tea extract supplement may also work. That was NOT tested. But if the polyphenols in the green tea are causing the effect, the concentrated amount in the supplement might work very well indeed.

So there you have it. Green tea and very likely green tea extract supplements can add substantially to your heart protection and longevity.

They also apparently will add to any colon cancer protection you’ve gotten by taking vitamin D3 and turmeric and staying away from tobacco smoke and eating raw and cooked cruciferous vegetables.
Mix and match green tea with coffee or with careful experiments with Guarana seed extract to find what works best for you & you can be maximally alert and mentally quick when you want to be and have your health protected too.