Seanna Tully, the WholeHealth Chicago Herbal Specialist and Apothecary manager, was featured (yet again!) in Northwestern’s MedIll Report:
(REPOSTED FROM: http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=179061)
Debate on Health Benefits of Tea Still Brewing
by Alexandra Arkin
Feb 18, 2011
Regularly drinking green tea could protect people from Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia as well as cancer, according to a study completed by scientists at Newcastle University, located in northeast England.
Tea has been used for thousands of years as an important part of traditional Eastern medicine for various ailments, in addition to being a beverage, according to Dr. Ed Okello, the lead researcher in the Newcastle study. Today, he said, the three major commercial varieties of tea are black, green, and oolong teas, which all come from the Camellia sinensis plant. Green and oolong teas are especially popular in Asia, while black tea is more popular in the West.
The teas’ health benefits are due to compounds called polyphenols, according to Okello. The polyphenol content in teas varies depending on the kind of tea, where it was grown and the manufacturing process. For example, in black tea, which goes through more processing, polyphenols called catechins are transformed into different forms through oxidation.
Judy Fulop, a doctor of naturopathic medicine at Northwestern Memorial Hospital’s Center for Integrative Medicine and Wellness, explained that green tea leaves and black tea leaves are prepared for consumption through different processes. Green tea leaves are steamed, which leaves the polyphenol content intact. Black tea leaves are dried. The more polyphenols in the tea, the more health benefits there are.
Doctors and herbalists disagree about the potential health benefits of green and black teas. According to Okello, studies indicate there may be benefits including prevention of cancer, heart disease, diabetes, obesity and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.
Dr. Michael Seidman, medical director for Henry Ford Health System’s Center for Integrative Medicine and head of integrative medicine at the Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital, said the antioxidants in black and green teas have anti-inflammatory properties. “Inflammation is a precursor for many things,” he said – including heart disease, cancer and neurodegenerative problems.
Seidman said regular consumption of black and green teas may lower cholesterol, and drinking green tea reduces the risk of cancer.
But Seanna Tully, clinical services manager of the Apothecary at Whole Health Chicago, said the benefits of teas made from Camellia sinensis are still being researched. For example, there is not enough evidence to say definitively that green tea prevents cancer.
WholeHealth Chicago 