posted July 06, 2005 07:24 AM         

its scrumdiddleyumptious!

I've also done lemon, ginger (fresh), lemon grass, and vanilla, and of now, apple, oh yeah, and the chai style.

The best way is in a large tea pot, with either loose green tea leaves, or in bags.

Any other flavor ideas?

posted July 08, 2005 02:46 PM         

Here's some more:http://www.mercola.com/2000/sep/10/green_tea_fluoride_thyroid.htm

quote:

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Virtually every company selling green tea advertises it's high fluoride content as "beneficial" in preventing cavities, promulgating the misleading and false data supplied for the last 50 years by the ADA/CDA and other dental health trade organizations, as well as various public health agencies. There are NO double-blind studies anywhere proving the efficacy of fluoride as a caries preventative (17). There ARE double-blind studies proving adverse health effects, at the level of 1ppm (1mg/l) in water.(18) There are no studies documenting safety at any intake level....While there can be no doubt as to the beneficial effects of individual antioxidants found in green tea, the same cannot be said about green tea as a beverage. Existing studies tend to concentrate on active ingredients of green tea, such as epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), a compound that belongs to a family of antioxidants known as polyphenols. EGCG and other polyphenols are constituents of tea - especially of green tea...Many available green tea/cancer studies last only a few months, and do not take into account the cumulative effects of fluoride, which is a known cancer promoter, and has the ability to transform healthy cells into cancerous ones. (1,17,35,36) For any conclusive evidence to be obtained this must be considered, for long time fluoride ingestion has been shown to _cause_ cancer, especially osteosarcomas and uterine cancer.

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posted July 08, 2005 10:38 PM         

I love green tea, I've been drinking around a litre a day, thinking it's doing wonders for my body!

BUT does all green tea contain flouride? The tea I buy doesnt say it does, and I've never seen this before.

Maybe it's not the same everywhere.
I don't drink tap water because of flouride, I know all about that nasty stuff.

I've also never seen tea advertising that it has flouride, could it be different in other countries?
I buy organic green tea, and it says it also had no pesticides, or growth hormones, and no other additives.

posted July 08, 2005 11:34 PM         

About a year ago I read a fascinating book, Politically Incorrect Nutrition, by Michael Barbee. Unfortunately, I loaned it to a friend, so I cannot quote from it for you. It is in this book where I first read the studies on green tea.

I found an interview with the author here: http://thyroid.about.com/od/bookssupportresources/a/barbeeinterview.htm

From the interview, here are some of the things he says about green tea:

quote:

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Q: It seems that everyone today is extolling the virtues of green tea. Briefly, what do you think are the problems with green tea consumption?

A: There is no question that green tea, and black tea well, contain valuable antioxidants that traditionally have protected health. Unfortunately, the tea plant stores more fluoride than any other plant. Due to increased water, air, and soil pollution during the last several decades, the amount of fluoride in most teas today is staggering. A typical cup contains as much fluoride (1 mg) as an entire quart of artificially fluoridated water--with some samples of tea containing traces of DDT. One sample of Chinese green tea tested had a whopping 22 mg. of fluoride per tea bag!

To put this into perspective, it has been established that consuming more than 4 mg of fluoride per day for a number of years will likely lead to arthritic symptoms which eventually turn into crippling skeletal fluorosis. Today in fluoridated communities (two-thirds of the country), it is estimated that a typical fluoride intake from all sources is 6-7 mg. It makes little sense to purposely add more fluoride to a diet which already seems to guarantee future bone problems. Many people have reported that their arthritic-like symptoms vanish when they give up their tea. Fortunately, some of the same protective antioxidants found in tea can also be found in apples, pears, red wine, and in even higher amounts in dark chocolate. If eating these is not feasible or appropriate, I think that using a green tea extract which has been tested for fluoride content might be a reasonable thing to do...One supplier of green tea I contacted makes a point to tell its consumers not to drink its tea if they happen to be on Synthroid because the fluoride in the tea will interfere with this medication...

...Q: We are told that the Japanese diet which includes soy is responsible for their longevity? How much soy do they actually eat?

A: Marketers of soy products would like us to believe that Asians have good health because they eat a "soy-based" diet. This simply is not true. In China the daily consumption of soy is about two teaspoons. In Japan it is about two ounces a day. In China they get most of their protein from pork. For the Japanese, it is from fish. In fact, the Japanese eat more eggs than they do soy. They eat more eggs than anyone in the world, followed closely by the Chinese. It is curious that the egg sellers didn't capitalize on this. They could have said, "Be healthy, eat like the Japanese, eat more eggs!"

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Hope this helps, SunChild. Like I said, I hate to be a poop, but it saddens me that a great marketing campaign for things like soy and green tea hide the potential dangers and toxins contained within their products.

beebuddy

quote:

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china and japan have been drinking green tea for a long time and they aren't all dying of cancer

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Again, not to be a poop, but are you sure? How much green tea does the average man or woman from China or Japan consume? How is it grown? And what are the incidents of cancer of the typical man or woman in either country?

I am not being flip, and my questions are more rhetorical than anything. My concern here is only in helping us all be aware of the choices we make in our quest to be healthy.

I was at the North American Vegetarian Summerfest last weekend, and in light of all the recent studies on the dangers of soy, I was somewhat shocked at how many vegans consume huge amounts of it. There was even a lecture on the health dangers of soy, the most dangerous culprits being soy that is processed into foods that look like other foods (i.e. soy cheese, soy burgers, soy ice cream, etc.).

I wish ignorance were bliss, but I'm not convinced.

posted July 09, 2005 10:52 AM         

I see now, how the fluoride ends up in the tea, that's a shame really.
But as it's noted, the same antioxidents are also found in other things, so it's not a great loss.

It's helped alot, don't worry I don't see you as a poop, you're realistic, and concerned. I didn't know about soy until you mentioned it, and since researching further I tend to avoid it now. Some vegans I know use soy as a staple!
I think I prefer to know exactly what I am consuming.

posted July 10, 2005 02:37 PM         

I'm not vegan, I eat junk-type foods sometimes. I'm not militant in the way I live my life--far from it! But...like you, I like to be aware of what I'm consuming. I like to make the smartest choices I can, and that way, if I eat some dairy or some soy, I can at least do it knowing that any consequences are my choice.

A cup of green tea will probably do no harm. But there is a huge marketing campaign going on, extolling the alleged health benefits of green tea, while of course ignoring the potential toxins/hazards. *sigh*

Randall, personally, I generally avoid all tea. Regular tea contains tanins, the same thing used to age leather! Tanins also age one's skin, so I say no thanks! As far as flouride in regular tea, I know the author mentioned it in the quote above, but unfortunately, a friend still has my copy of the book which contains the studies he used. It seems to me there was some mention of regular tea, but I can't recall. When I can, I will check for you.

posted July 10, 2005 06:05 PM         

I have my own personal experience with soy. used to consume large amounts of soy products. Had terrible digestive problems. It was THEN I discovered that soy contains such large amount of enzyme-inhibitors that cooking does not destroy.

I WAS going to start drinking more green tea. So brown tea is bad too?

What about 'white tea'? I don't like green tea, but I love white tea. I get a brand of 'Clipper' white tea in a pale green box from the health shop. It is said to contain more antioxidents than any other type of tea and used in the most formal chinese tea ceremonies.

I'll have to find out, unless any of you know about it. Is white tea bad?

What about Rooibosh tea? That's said to contain fluoride. I'm worried now, because my mother drinks it- I don't know if she'd listen.

posted July 11, 2005 02:51 PM         

In any event, I only offer the information I have found and read, and each of us will make his or her own choice in regards to the consumption of tea, or soy, or anything else.

LostInAStrangeWorld, I honestly don't know about any of the other teas. Whatever tea you decide to drink, go for organic.

posted July 11, 2005 04:00 PM         

(green tea kills cancer cells in-vitro) http://www.medjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7&highlight=green+tea

(green tea protects liver) http://www.news-medical.net/?id=7841

(green tea and diabetes) http://my.webmd.com/content/article/104/107641.htm

(fluoride and tea) http://www.mercola.com/2000/sep/10/green_tea_fluoride_thyroid.htm

as you can read in this article, fluoride is not a chemical that is inherent to tea. fluoride contaminates tea via environmental pollution. demand cleaner foods, dont quit drinking tea if you like it.

posted July 12, 2005 08:51 AM         

From Dr. Mercola (one of your links):

quote:

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Virtually every company selling green tea advertises it's high fluoride content as "beneficial" in preventing cavities, promulgating the misleading and false data supplied for the last 50 years by the ADA/CDA and other dental health trade organizations, as well as various public health agencies. There are NO double-blind studies anywhere proving the efficacy of fluoride as a caries preventative (17). There ARE double-blind studies proving adverse health effects, at the level of 1ppm (1mg/l) in water.(18) There are no studies documenting safety at any intake level..

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From the same article:

quote:

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While there can be no doubt as to the beneficial effects of individual antioxidants found in green tea, the same cannot be said about green tea as a beverage. Existing studies tend to concentrate on active ingredients of green tea, such as epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), a compound that belongs to a family of antioxidants known as polyphenols. EGCG and other polyphenols are constituents of tea - especially of green tea. However, no studies exist investigating the effects of fluorides on these anti-oxidants. Existing studies involving other antioxidants and fluoride compounds give evidence that fluorides can adversely affect the action of antioxidants(27). Thus, while isolated antioxidants may slow down the development of some forms of cancer in experimental studies, their effect may be annihilated in their complex natural environment (as a sum of the action of all the substances present

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And this from the same article:

quote:

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While lung cancer studies have shown an inverse effect with Okinawan tea, a tentatively increased risk was shown in another study, clearly indicating that more research into this matter is needed. In a recent study on Finnish men, published in 1998 by Terryl Hartman and others, again a positive correlation between colon cancer and tea intake was found. Colon cancer occurrence increased with higher intake (30).

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Here is an especially telling quote from that article:

quote:

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Many available green tea/cancer studies last only a few months, and do not take into account the cumulative effects of fluoride, which is a known cancer promoter, and has the ability to transform healthy cells into cancerous ones. (1,17,35,36) For any conclusive evidence to be obtained this must be considered, for long time fluoride ingestion has been shown to _cause_ cancer, especially osteosarcomas and uterine cancer. (31,32)

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Here is one more quote:

quote:

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To make matters much worse for human health, fluorides in teas are found together with aluminum. The combination of aluminum and fluorides in tea is of urgent concern, due to the increased damage done by fluorides when in the presence of aluminum, especially neurological and renal damage)(17).The fluoride/aluminum association is of particular importance as it relates to Alzheimer's Disease. Aluminum by itself is not readily absorbed by the body. However, in the presence of fluoride ions, the fluoride ions combine with the aluminum to form aluminum fluoride, which is absorbed by the body. In the body, the aluminum eventually combines with oxygen to form aluminum oxide or alumina (53). Alumina is the compound of aluminum that is found in the brains of Alzheimer's disease

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Here, from the same article, is one of the primary reasons I stopped ingesting flouride:

quote:

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Many of the symptoms documented in the vast literature on the subject of chronic or low-grade fluoride poisoning can be directly related to thyroid functions and disorders. One of the most prominent features of preskeletal fluorosis is the extraordinary general fatigue experienced by most sufferers, a marked weakness usually linked to low activity of the thyroid gland. (2)

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quote:

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It is only in the last two decades during which endocrinology has progressed so rapidly, that now over 150 symptoms and associations can be identified in hypothyroidism. Almost all correlate with known symptoms of fluoride poisoning.(74) Most of the double-blind test results of fluoride poisoning found in Moolenburgh's study on water containing 1ppm of fluoride - which led to the ban of fluoridation in Holland - are now recognized symptoms of hypothyroidism. (75)

The effects of fluoride on the thyroid gland have been studied so extensively, that it baffles the mind how experts on thyroid disease from Harvard or the University of Toronto can claim that fluorides do not affect thyroid gland function, especially when it has been used as medication to do just that! (76)

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beebuddy, I have long been reading Dr. Mercola's website. This is a very valuable article, but I don't know how you used it to support your arguement that flouride/green tea/tea are harmless, unless you didn't actually read it.

I will peek at your other site listings as time allows.

posted July 12, 2005 04:02 PM         

here is a quote from the begining of the article.

"" Tea leaves accumulate more fluoride (from pollution of soil and air) than any other edible plant (1,2,3). Fluoride content in tea has risen dramatically over the last 20 years, as has tea consumption (4).""

posted July 12, 2005 04:13 PM         

And based on the information, I would change this:

quote:

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don't quit drinking green tea if you like it, DEMAND CLEANER FOODS

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To this:

quote:

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To ensure that you don't risk your health, don't drink green tea until it is proven that it is a cleaner food with no potential dangers.

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posted July 12, 2005 07:15 PM         

quote:

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Tea leaves accumulate more fluoride (from pollution of soil and air) than any other edible plant

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