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• A study in Japan has demonstrated that gargling with green tea significantly reduces your risk of catching the flu. Those participants who didn't gargle were eight times more likely to catch the flu than those who did.
  
  
• Rinsing with green tea can protect your teeth from developing cavities by inhibiting the bacteria that cause them and by lowering the acidity in plaque. It also reduces gum inflammations such as gingivitis and protects you from oral cancers. Look out Listerine!
  
  
• Green tea consumption protects you from cancer. The more green tea people drink, the less likely they are to develop cancer.
  
  
• Regular consumption of green tea has also been shown to reduce the rates of recurrence in those who have had cancers surgically removed.
  
  
• What's more, in those currently undergoing chemotherapy, green tea has even been shown to make chemotherapy more effective in killing cancer cells and less toxic to healthy cells.
  
  
• Regular green tea consumption has been shown to lower LDL (the "bad" cholesterol) and to raise HDL (the "good" cholesterol).
  
  
• Last, but certainly not least, regular green tea consumption protects your skin from UV radiation from sunlight. In other words, it prevents sunburns, premature aging and skin cancer.
  
  The one catch is that the protective benefits of green tea are related to how much you drink. At least five cups per day are required to get protective benefits and most medical studies have people drink ten cups or more. Green tea, while not containing nearly as much as coffee, contains caffeine. So the pertinent question is: How do I get the benefits of green tea without getting hopped up and losing sleep?
  
  The answer is simple: Reuse the same leaves. During brewing, the caffeine in green tea is extracted first, while polyphenols, the beneficial antioxidant compounds, are extracted gradually and increase as you brew more cups. Your first cup of tea will contain most of the caffeine (and you can pour it out if you want to avoid the stimulant effects) while each successive cup will contain more and more beneficial antioxidants. It is common in China, for example, to see people with a jar of loose tea leaves, which they refill throughout the day with hot water. I am constantly reminding my patients to drink more liquids, here is one way to get even more benefit from adequate hydration.
  
  These health benefits only come from green tea. Black tea has undergone oxidation, which makes many of the beneficial compounds of tea unavailable. Adding milk has a similar effect. As an aside, quality of green tea makes a tremendous difference in terms of taste. Loose leaf is always preferred to bagged teas and added flavors are often a ruse to cover up poor quality leaves. There are several shops in Chinatown that specialize in high-quality green tea.
  
  Drink more tea!
  
  
  
  
  To schedule an appointment, or to get on my newsletter mailing list, e-mail drjaredhanson@gmail.com or call 917-607-5035.