FRENCH
*Natural
Medicines
clay
*
Return Homepage
*ARCHIVES
*posters
problem?(fr)
* Editorganic
*SCANDALS
WATER&MEAT
* Natural
Products
organic/biodynamic
*
Hygienist advice
*Food
supplements
* DIET/BEAUTY/HEALTH
* Organic
Grocery
*
FAQ
*Medias
talks about us,
you
too
*
Consumers react!
(our
charter)
*
BOOKSTORE(fr)
* Dietary
Produc
* DIET
Products
* Maintenance
Products
*
Archives
* What's
an organic products
(Pr E.Labouze)
*Glutamate/Aspartam
chinese restaurant
*
Address/ Map
Phone/
e-mail
*REST
*Natural
Medicines
clay
*
Return Homepage
*ARCHIVES
*posters
problem?(fr)
* Editorganic
*SCANDALS
WATER&MEAT
* Natural
Products
organic/biodynamic
*
Hygienist advice
*Food
supplements
* DIET/BEAUTY/HEALTH
* Organic
Grocery
*
FAQ
*Medias
talks about us,
you
too
*
Consumers react!
(our
charter)
*
BOOKSTORE(fr)
* Dietary
Produc
* DIET
Products
* Maintenance
Products
*
Archives
* What's
an organic products
(Pr E.Labouze)
*Glutamate/Aspartam
chinese restaurant
*
Address/ Map
Phone/
e-mail
*REST
*Natural
Medicines
clay
*
Return Homepage
*ARCHIVES
*posters
problem?(fr)
* Editorganic
*SCANDALS
WATER&MEAT
* Natural
Products
organic/biodynamic
*
Hygienist advice
*Food
supplements
* DIET/BEAUTY/HEALTH
* Organic
Grocery
*
FAQ
*Medias
talks about us,
you
too
*
Consumers react!
(our
charter)
*
BOOKSTORE(fr)
* Dietary
Products
* DIET
Products
* Maintenance
Products
*
Archives
* What's
an organic products
(Pr E.Labouze)
*Glutamate/Aspartam
chinese restaurant
*
Address/ Map
Phone/
e-mail
*REST |
..
THE
THERAPEUTIC VIRTUES OF TEA
For more than 3,000 years
the tea leaves have been regularly used in Chinese herbal medicine for
their therapeutic properties.
Today, numerous studies
show that tea is a powerful source of antioxidants which reinforce natural
defences and slow ageing by protecting the body from the harmful effects
of free radicals.
But to possess these
virtues effectively, the tea must be of excellent quality.
The tea plant, a member of
the camellia family, was classified by the Swedish botanist Linné
in 1753 under the name of Camella sinesis. Contrary to what was long
thought, there exist few different plants: their great variety comes from
the soil, the climate and above all the preparation of the leaves.
Thus green teas, fermented or semi-fermented are not made from different
plants, but are the result of specific preparations.
A plant rich in constituents
Tea leaves contain
not less than 350 constituents, of which 40% are carbohydrates, 20% proteins,
2% lipids, 9% minerals (including Manganese, Potassium, Magnesium, Florine),
several B group vitamins (B1, B2, B3), vitamin C (in green tea) and vitamin
P which aids the elasticity of blood vessels.
Finally, of course, tea contains
tannin, whose effects are fortunately moderated by the presence of polyphenols.
An Anti-Cancer Effect
According to a study
published in the magazine Nature of 5 June 1997, by a team from the Ohio
Medical College, green tea has anti-cancer properties and more precisely
is capable of preventing prostate cancer and breast cancer.
The researchers notably demonstrated
that the polyphenols contained in green tea are active against urokinase.
Urokinase is an enzyme proteolitic necessary in the production of metastasis.
But the urokinase inhibitors known until then either have a weak effect,
or are excessively toxic.
Hence the interest in drinking
green tea!
A powerful medicament against
cholesterol
Amongst the numerous
scientific studies of recent years, 3 of them particularly merit being
held up for their different approaches to the action of tea on cholesterol.
The first took place in 1986,
when 86 patients were hospitalised with hypertension or coronary illnesses
in the department of internal medicine at the university of Kumming (Yunnan).
For 2 months 55 of them took 15g of the tea Pu-erh Cha in 3 doses.
The other 31 people received a classical medical treatment of that time
from the United States: PCIB. The dietary habits of the patients
were not changed, and no other treatment was followed during the period
studied. The results appeared to show that PCIB and tea had a comparable
action, particularly significantly on cholesterol. Against this,
PCIB behaved in a more effective fashion on the level of triglycerides.
But nevertheless it remains that tea didn’t produce any undesirable effects.
In 1990, the doctors at ARMA
lead a study into the value of Hao Ling tea, higher quality than the Pu-er
Cha variety. More than 1,000 people, with high levels of Cholesterol
and triglycerides, in France, Italy, Spain and Belgium, were followed and
given to a treatment consisting of taking between 1 and 2 litres of tea
a day for 2 to 3 months
The findings of ARMA confirmed
the positive action of Hao-Ling tea, as the average level of cholesterol
had fallen from 4.2 to 2.1 g/l for 90.5% of the population, and that of
glycerides from 2.8 to 0.85% for 91% of the subjects.
Finally on 18/3/95 the British
Medical Journal published an epidemiological study by 2 Japanese researchers.
They had conducted their study on the inhabitants of a small town in Japan,
whose population had been regularly examined since 1986, and whose dietary
habits still largely included green tea.
Of a population of more than
1,000 people aged over 40, the total level of cholesterol and of triglycerides
was significantly lower among the great tea drinkers, with an increase
in good cholesterol and a diminution of bad cholesterol, that is to say
a reduction in the risk of thrombosis.
All depends on the quality
BOf
course, these results were not obtained by occasionally drinking a cup
of ordinary tea! The quality of a tea depends on the time of picking
of the harvested leaves. The picking can start from the third year
after planting and be spread, in China, from April to October; of these
the first two pickings in spring are considered to be the best, because
the sunshine, gentle in this season, has not yet reduced the quality of
the leaves. This picking called the Imperial, only consists of the
pekoe (bud) and 1 leaf has practically disappeared. The fine picking,
rare in our time, consists of the pekoe and 2 leaves. beyond 3 the
quality of the tea becomes very average: alas, to increase income it is
common these days to harvest 10 leaves, which only permits the obtaining
of tea of a mediocre quality, because 80% of the active ingredients are
found in the best leaves, that is to say the first 3 and the bud, in the
following proportions: bud 26.5%, !st leaf 25.9%, 2nd leaf 20.7%, 3rd leaf
17.1% . The leaves of the lower stem only contain 5% of the active constituents.
It is advisable therefore,
to obtain the therapeutic effects, to drink teas of superior quality, such
as those sold in health food shops.
On the other hand; when one wants
to fight cholesterol, the tea must be prepared in decoction for 5 to 7
minutes, and drunk hot after a meal. Tea also has incomparable digestive
virtues, improving intestinal function and reducing corpulence.
by Geneviève
MAILLANT in Diet Infos sept99 n°98 p19&20
return natural medicines
(see margin/frame)
A T T E N T I O N
biogassendi is a serious
establishment, which is not a substitute
for your usual doctor
contact us, come to see
us
You will find here the
quality of listening and possible purchases
on which our reputation
is founded
Translation by Steve Huddy - steve@shuddy.fsnet.co.uk
©copyright gassendi-dietetique1999
|