Funny Spoof Commercial on Tea's Health Benefits

Wow, I guess tea really is good for you.

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Tea & Hangovers

When it comes to hangovers, Robert Benchley said it best, "the only cure for a real hangover is death."

So where does tea fit into this picture? Can it cure a hangover? Probably not. Can it ease the ill effects that are part and parcel of the hangover experience? Perhaps. Puerh, in particular, is thought by some to be helpful in taming a hangover, thought it's unclear if there's any actual research to back up this assertion.

Despite those savvy marketers who want us to believe otherwise, there probably is no such thing as a hangover cure. Researchers can’t quite agree about what causes a hangover, but there are steps you can take to make them a little less painful.

Most notably - remain hydrated, consuming other liquids (like tea) before, during and after your revelry. This is particularly important, since alcohol consumption tends to lead to dehydration. Some have also suggested that the caffeine and theanine in tea may help with that morning after fuzziness.

For general info on hangovers, look here and here.

For more on the curious malady known as tea drunkenness, look here and here.

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Tea - More Health Benefits

There are no shortage of studies these days trumpeting the health benefits of drinking tea. A new one, recently published in the New England Journal of Flabbergastery, is more comprehensive than most. I won't go into all the details - look it up and read them for yourself, if you must. Here are just a few of the divers maladies and conditions drinking tea is said to provide relief from:

Twittering, gout, loose sphincter muscles, leprosy, jabbering, broken sacroiliac, dropsy, random and uncontrolled hollering, lycanthropy, goiter, pleurisy, bubonic plague, priapism, boanthropy, sagging testicles, whooping cough, cradle cap and loutishness.

EGCG: A Closer Look

Here's another article I recently wrote for The English Tea Store blog.

EGCG: A Closer Look
By William I. Lengeman III

If you’ve been following the numerous reports about tea’s alleged health benefits in the media (including the ones at this site) in past years, then you’ve probably encountered a mouthful of a term known as epigallocatechin-3-gallate. Which is one of the most often cited beneficial compounds found in tea and one that’s typically shortened to the more manageable acronym, EGCG.

A compound in tea that’s known as a catechin, EGCG has antioxidant properties and is found in the greatest...

read the full article here

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Green Tea for Dogs?

So it's come to this. I recently ran across an article at the eHow site which purports to reveal The Benefits of Green Tea for Dogs. Now far be it from me to say that your darling little pup will not realize any benefits from tossing back a cup of sencha or jasmine pearls every now and then, because who really knows?

Among the claims put forth in the article, that green tea may help boost your dog's immune system and even protect the little bowser from cancer. Once again, who's to say? On the flip side, as the article notes, "it is also possible for your dog to die of an overdose of green tea." Not that I'm itching to test this one, but really?

Speaking of dogs and tea, while you're at it why not check out How to Cure Diarrhea in Dogs With Black Tea. Or watch this video of a group of dogs fortifying themselves with tea. It's a ruff life.



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Does Green Tea Help Burn Fat?

Here's another article I recently wrote for The English Tea Store blog.

Does Green Tea Help Burn Fat?
By William I. Lengeman III

Buyer beware. Don’t believe everything you read. Okay, they’re not the most original phrases, but when it comes to the marketing of tea and the many health benefits that it’s said to bestow on us, they’re appropriate maxims to keep in mind.

My standard disclaimer here. Yes, I do believe that tea can have some benefits to the health of those who drink it. There’s just too much evidence in favor of this notion to believe otherwise. On the other hand, I certainly don’t believe everything I read when it comes to this sort of thing, and I think there are plenty of people out there who are prone to exaggerate...

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Can Green Tea Shrink Tumors?

Here's another article I recently wrote for The English Tea Store blog.

Can Green Tea Shrink Tumors?
By William I. Lengeman III

I tend to be cautiously skeptical when it comes to the many and varied health claims for tea. For my money tea is just fine as a beverage and, if it happens to benefit my health in any way, I’ll take that as a nice fringe benefit. As always, I caution the reader to approach the more lofty health claims for tea with a grain of salt or three. For a recent article on mixed messages about tea and one specific type of cancer, look here.

All of which might seem like an odd way to start an article that reports on one of the latest such health claims, but given the content of said claim I can imagine...

read the full article here

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Green Tea Aids Memory?

Here's another article I recently wrote for The English Tea Store blog.

Green Tea Aids Memory?
By William I. Lengeman III

The litany of potential health benefits for green tea continues. For anyone who might have missed it, the latest in this multitude of possible benefits is the notion that green tea might help enhance memory. For more on how tea can help other brain functions, refer to this article from a few years ago. It looked at potential benefits in the area of spatial learning, memory, cognitive capability, and learning ability, as well referencing a study on the calming effects of theanine, a compound found in tea.

read the full article here

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Tea Causes and Cures Prostate Cancer?

Here's an article I recently wrote for The English Tea Store blog.

Tea Causes and Cures Prostate Cancer?
By William I. Lengeman III

If you keep close tabs on tea-related news (guilty), you’ll notice that it’s a rare day when there’s not some report trumpeting another of tea‘s alleged health benefits. On the flip side, you’ll find that it’s quite rare to see a report that presents a potential downside for drinking tea. But in recent weeks we’ve actually seen conflicting reports that tea can be beneficial and harmful for the exact same condition – prostate cancer.

read the full article here

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Recent Research on Tea and Health

Here's an article I recently wrote for The English Tea Store blog.

Recent Research on Tea and Health
By William I. Lengeman III

If you’ve been tuned into this blog for a while you’ve probably noticed that we’ve featured quite a few articles that highlight possible links between tea and improved health. If you’ve missed those articles, do not despair. They’re still around and you can access them right here.

One of the topics we reported on previously was how tea might aid in guarding against...

read the full article here

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A Cup a Day Helps Keep Heart Disease Away?

In addition to publishing Tea Guy Speaks, I'm a regular contributor to The English Tea Store blog. Here's an article I recently wrote for them. Click the link to read the full article.

A Cup a Day Helps Keep Heart Disease Away?
By William I. Lengeman III

As most of us are probably aware, heart disease is no small problem nowadays. Here in the United States alone the facts regarding this condition are rather eye-opening. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) heart disease is the leading cause of death for both American men and women and was responsible for one in four deaths, or a total of 616,000 deaths in all, in 2008. In 2010, the overall cost of heart disease to Americans was expected to be in the neighborhood of $108.9 billion.

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Tea, Exercise, and Hydration

In addition to publishing Tea Guy Speaks, I'm a regular contributor to The English Tea Store blog. Here's an article I recently wrote for them. Click the link to read the full article.

Tea, Exercise, and Hydration
By William I. Lengeman III

You don’t need to be an expert in human biology to understand the importance of staying hydrated while you’re exercising. Of course, it’s important to stay hydrated all the time, but that’s especially the case when you’re exercising. As the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) notes, body weight can decrease anywhere from one to three percent in cases of minimal dehydration and up to five percent in serious cases. Needless to say, that’s a bad thing.

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Green Tea Leaves vs. Supplements

In addition to publishing Tea Guy Speaks, I'm a regular contributor to The English Tea Store blog. Here's an article I recently wrote for them. Click the link to read the full article.

Green Tea Leaves vs. Supplements
By William I. Lengeman III

The potential health benefits of green tea are hardly a well-kept secret these days. Sometimes it seems like you can barely turn around without running into another report breathlessly touting the merits of this fine beverage. Given this, it’s probably not surprising that some enterprising merchants have attempted to take the essence of what’s good (healthwise) about green tea and distill it into supplement form.

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Tea Helps Reduce Parkinson’s Risk?

In addition to publishing Tea Guy Speaks, I'm a regular contributor to The English Tea Store blog. Here's an article I recently wrote for them. Click the link to read the full article.

Tea Helps Reduce
Parkinson’s Risk?
By William I. Lengeman III

Parkinson’s disease is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder after Alzheimer’s disease. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the condition is “a chronic, progressive movement disorder that affects the lives of at least one half million patients across the United States.” The NIH also notes that “currently available pharmacological and surgical treatments provide relief from some motor symptoms, but do not halt the ultimate progression of the disease.”

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Tea: The Miracle Cure?

I've written my share of articles discussing the various health claims for tea. I've seen the evidence that tea might be of some aid in improving our health and yet I still drink it for the taste. And if it didn't taste good I probably wouldn't drink it at all, even if it could cure my baldness, banish that lingering case of boanthropy (the delusion that one is an ox) I've been struggling with and make me irresistible to members of the opposite sex.

If you haven't noticed there are some merchants who tend to get a bit creative when it comes to touting tea's health claims. Which kind of bugs me a bit. Apparently it also bugs Charles Cain, at TeaRetailer, who recently wrote about this very same topic in an article called Tea: The Cure For What Ails. Sorry to spoil anything for you, but if the notion of a shot of rooibos in your gyokuro doesn’t make you cringe you're made of stronger stuff than I.

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Stop Smoking With Tea?

According to a recent UPI article, Chinese researchers have devised a "tea filter" that may helpers smokers who are looking to quit. I'm not completely clear about how it all works but it appears that tea leaves are actually part of the filter itself.

As the article notes, "when a smoker smokes using the tea filter, the inhibitors of the nicotine receptor in the tea filter are absorbed through the respiratory system and travel to the brain where it produces cessation effects."

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Tea Lowers Cancer Risk...Or Not

Hang around here long enough and you'll find that every now and then I go off on a mild rant about tea's alleged health benefits. If you're new here, I'll reiterate my position (like you care). I don't doubt that tea actually has some health benefits, of which I'm glad to be a beneficiary. I also don't doubt that there are a lot of dubious claims about these benefits being floated in the interests of selling more tea. Whatever.

Something caught my attention recently as I opened my latest round of emailed news alerts regarding the search term tea. One link led a story in the British press with the headline, "Five cups of green tea a day lowers cancer risk." The very next link led to a story in the British press with the headline, "New study casts doubt on green tea's anti-cancer properties." Whatever.

As I've suggested before, it might not be doing our health much good to be spending so much time worrying about our health.

Here's the link to article one, which appeared in the Telegraph. Article two appeared in the Tea News.

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Green Tea Coke & More Health Hype

Just when you thought the green tea hype couldn't get any more absurd, here comes an announcement from Coca-Cola about a green-tea flavored version of Coke they're releasing in Japan. An idea so dreadful that my taste buds cringe at the very thought of it. Here's a brief news bit about green tea Coke (and basil Pepsi - yum).

On a similar note, though not tea-related, is an incarnation of 7UP, complete with antioxidants.

Speaking of tea, health benefits and hype, here's a timely report about Tetley's misadventures over a TV ad that's been airing in Britain.

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Health Benefits & L-Theanine Followups

Getting tired of the endless hype about tea's health benefits? Marshal is, as he noted recently in a post at A Tea Addict's Journal. For more on this theme, see this post right here at Tea Guy Speaks.

Here's another recent post from Tea Guy Speaks, in which we noted that l-theanine is the latest component in tea to be heaved onto the hype bandwagon. Here's yet another link from a major press outlet examining its myriad of alleged benefits.

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L-Theanine's 15 Minutes of Fame

Stand aside, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG). Make way for l-theanine. The rush to break tea down to nothing more than a series of individual components with allegedly miraculous health-giving properties continues.

L-theanine, according to an article that recently appeared in several large newpspapers, will impart to those who consume it numerous awe-inspiring health benefits, not the least of which is focus and concentration. More about this latest tea trend here and here.

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