Green Tea

The Chinese people have a long time ago discovered green tea’s healing power. According to the legend Emperor Shen Nung discovered the tea; he used to drink, during his travels, stream water heated in a container. A day a leaf from the tree dropped into the water and Shen Nung decided to try the brew. The tree was a wild tea tree, wich he found delicious and refreshing, he "discovered" the stimulating beneficial properties of the tea leaf.

The main property of green tea is to protect cells against free radicals: its polyfhenols (catechins) have a potent antioxidant effects and hence improve health; green tea is also recommended or other purposes: e.g. to control arterial pressure, the excess of cholesterol in blood (it induces a reduction of the LDS’s and triglycerides as well as an increase in the HDL’s); the active agents contained in the leaves of green tea inhibits the angiotension converting enzyme (ACE) thus providing for a hypotensive effect useful in individuals with high arterial pressure parameters. It also has a thermogenic action that stimulates the burning of calories and hence weight loss.
An article in New Scientist magazine mentions that numerous studies suggest that green tea protects against a range of cancers, including lung, prostate and breast cancer. The reason cited is the antioxidant epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), according to Hirofumi Tachibana's team at Kyushu University in Japan.