masterwordsmith-unplugged

To be honest, I am a coffee lover while my hubby swears by his tea so to be fair, I am posting info about both drinks which my sis-in-law and Angela sent to me....Do leave a comment if you like ...Thanks.

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Dust off the thermos! Turns out that caffeine may actually be good for us.

Anything this good must be bad. That's the prevailing attitude when it comes to caffeine, isn't it? You crave it. You guzzle it. It makes you feel good - better able to handle an overbearing boss or an unruly pack of toddlers. But then... you feel guilty about it, suspecting that sooner or later, it's going to do you in.

In reality, it's not the guilty pleasure everyone makes it out to be - in fact, a little caffeine can do you good. So feel free to grab a tall breakfast blend while we separate fact from fiction.

Long-term caffeine consumption is just plain bad for you

False This myth exists in part because smokers, who metabolise caffeine twice as fast as non-smokers, tend to drink more coffee. And smokers have more health problems. But nicotine, not caffeine, is the culprit. As long as you don't have high blood pressure, heart arrhythmia or anxiety, drinking caffeinated beverages for years is fine, says Dr Harris Lieberman, a research psychologist for the US Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine.

Caffeine alters your body chemistry

True Caffeine is a natural stimulant, and 250mg of it - about one strong cup of filtered coffee - will triple the amount of adrenaline in your bloodstream, upping your respiratory rate. In the brain, caffeine intercepts adenosine, a chemical that slows down your nerves and signals the need to sleep. It also increases dopamine levels, stimulating pleasure centres. So caffeine has the ability to make you feel both alert and relaxed, says Dr Ernesto Illy, biochemist and founder of coffee producer Illy Caffe.

It makes you smarter

True A cup of coffee before you write your performance review isn't a bad idea. "It improves cognitive functions by blocking that brain-slowing adenosine," says food chemist Dr Joe Vinson. When given caffeine equal to two cups of coffee, severely sleep-deprived US Navy Seal trainees improved their alertness, vigilance, learning and memory by as much as 60 per cent, says Dr Lieberman, who administered the test.

It improves your game

True In terms of athletic performance, caffeine "might be the difference between first place and last," Dr Vinson says. Without caffeine, not only are you a little slower mentally, you're lagging physically. "Caffeine stimulates you to exercise 10 to 15 per cent longer" because it keeps you from getting as tired, explains Dr Terry Graham, a nutritionist who specialises in caffeine at Canada's University of Guelph. It's also a mild analgesic, so you can work out longer before you start to feel sore. However, a study by the University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland, showed that 200mg of caffeine may decrease blood flow to the heart during exercise. More research is needed, but study author Dr Philipp Kaufmann says healthy people shouldn't be at risk. The main lesson? People with heart disease or those at risk should avoid caffeine before a run or at least check with their doc first.

It causes high blood pressure

False The Journal of the American Medical Association reported that caffeine doesn't put you at risk of hypertension, although something else (as yet unknown to scientists) in sugared and diet colas does. In people with normal blood pressure, any change in heart rate is "too small to measure," says Dr Graham, and disappears within minutes of your first cup.

It leads to bone loss

False There's evidence that calcium is lost through urine, and by increasing the amount of urine you produce by drinking coffee, you decrease your body's calcium stores. But the effect is negligible. "A coffee drinker may lose a few milligrams of calcium, but one drop of milk makes up for the loss," says food toxicologist Dr Jim Coughlin. But cola could have an effect. "Research suggests the phosphoric acid in soft drinks could counteract the effects of calcium," says WH nutrition expert Sharon Natoli.

You can overdose on it

True But most of the documented cases are of people who have intentionally overdosed on caffeine pills (the lethal dose is about 50). To OD on caffeinated beverages, you would have to down dozens of cups of coffee, Coke and tea at the same time. The excess water would kill you before the caffeine, Dr Illy says.

You can drink all you want, with no consequences

False A Greek study suggests moderate to heavy coffee intake is associated with a higher level of inflammation. An immune system response, inflammation can be harmful because too much of it can produce chemicals in the body that have been linked to heart disease and diabetes. Another study, from the US's Harvard School of Public Health and Canada's University of Toronto, found that certain people, referred to as "slow metabolisers", are genetically programmed to break down caffeine at a slower rate, and caffeine placed these people at increased risk for heart attacks, while "rapid metabolisers" were protected. Scientists believe excess caffeine may lead to heart disease but that other benefits from coffee, such as antioxidants, outweigh the risk, as long as the caffeine doesn't linger in your system. Researchers don't discourage caffeine consumption, but warn against it in excess. A safe limit, says Natoli, is two regular cups of espresso or five to six cups of instant a day.

It's addictive

True You develop a tolerance to caffeine over time, and when you no longer take any in, your body, expecting that daily dose, reacts with headaches and irritability. The more caffeine you consume, the more severe the withdrawal symptoms.

If you have tea after dinner, you'll never fall asleep

False Tea has so little caffeine (25mg per cup of weak brew) that for most, it soothes rather than agitates. But beware of highly caffeinated drinks, especially if you're pregnant or on the pill: it takes four to six hours for an average adult to metabolise caffeine, and almost twice that long for a woman taking oral contraceptives. (For a pregnant woman, this increases to 18 hours.) If you have trouble sleeping, stop drinking caffeinated beverages at least six hours before bedtime.
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Green tea has increasingly become a very popular drink worldwide because of its immensely powerful health benefits.

It is extraordinarily amazing what green tea can do for your health.

And if you're not drinking 3 to 4 cups of green tea today, you're definitely NOT doing your health a big favor.

Here Are The 25 Reasons Why You Should Start Drinking Green Tea Right Now:

1. Green Tea and Cancer

Green tea helps reduce the risk of cancer.
The antioxidant in green tea is 100 times more effective than vitamin C and 25 times better than vitamin E.
This helps your body at protecting cells from damage believed to be linked to cancer.


2. Green Tea and Heart Disease

Green tea helps prevent heart disease and stroke by lowering the level of cholesterol.
Even after the heart attack, it prevents cell deaths and speeds up the recovery of heart cells.


3. Green Tea and Anti-Aging

Green tea contains antioxidant known as polyphenols which fight against free radicals.
What this means it helps you fight against aging and promotes longevity.

4. Green Tea and Weight Loss

Green tea helps with your body weight loss. Green tea burns fat and boosts your metabolism rate naturally.
It can help you burn up to 70 calories in just one day.
That translates to 7 pounds in one year.


5. Green Tea and Skin

Antioxidant in green tea protects the skin from the harmful effects of free radicals, which cause wrinkling and skin aging.
Green tea also helps fight against skin cancer.


6. Green Tea and Arthritis

Green tea can help prevent and reduce the risk of rheumatoid arthritis.
Green tea has benefit for your health as it protects the cartilage by blocking the enzyme that destroys cartilage.


7. Green Tea and Bones

The very key to this is high fluoride content found in green tea.
It helps keep your bones strong.
If you drink green tea every day, this will help you preserve your bone density.

8. Green Tea and Cholesterol

Green tea can help lower cholesterol level.
It also improves the ratio of good cholesterol to bad cholesterol, by reducing bad cholesterol level.


9. Green Tea and Obesity

Green tea prevents obesity by stopping the movement of glucose in fat cells.
If you are on a healthy diet, exercise regularly and drink green tea, it is unlikely you'll be obese.

10. Green Tea and Diabetes

Green tea improves lipid and glucose metabolisms, prevents sharp increases in blood sugar level, and balances your metabolism rate.


11. Green Tea and Alzheimer's

Green tea helps boost your memory.
And although there's no cure for Alzheimer's, it helps slow the process of reduced acetylcholine in the brain, which leads to Alzheimer's.

12. Green Tea and Parkinson's

Antioxidants in green tea helps prevent against cell damage in the brain, which could cause Parkinson's. People drinking green tea also are less likely to progress with Parkinson's.

13. Green Tea and Liver Disease

Green tea helps prevent transplant failure in people with liver failure. Researches showed that green tea destroys harmful free radicals in fatty livers.


14. Green Tea and High Blood Pressure

Green tea helps prevent high blood pressure.
Drinking green tea helps keep your blood pressure down by repressing angiotensin, which leads to high blood pressure.


15. Green Tea and Food Poisoning

Catechin found in green tea can kill bacteria which causes food poisoning and kills the toxins produced by those bacteria.

16. Green Tea and Blood Sugar

Blood sugar tends to increase with age, but polyphenols and polysaccharides in green tea help lower your blood sugar level.


17. Green Tea and Immunity

Polyphenols and flavenoids found in green tea help boost your immune system, making your health stronger in fighting against infections.

18. Green Tea and Cold and Flu

Green tea prevents you from getting a cold or flu.
Vitamin C in green tea helps you treat the flu and the common cold.

19. Green Tea and Asthma

Theophylline in green tea relaxes the muscles which support the bronchial tubes, reducing the severity of asthma.

20. Green Tea and Ear Infection

Green tea helps with ear infection problem.
For natural ear cleaning, soak a cotton ball in green tea and clean the infected ear.

21. Green Tea and Herpes

Green tea increases the effectiveness of topical interferon treatment of herpes.
First green tea compress is applied, and then let the skin dry before the interferon treatment.

22. Green Tea and Tooth Decay

Green tea destroys bacteria and viruses that cause many dental diseases.
It also slows the growth of bacteria which leads to bad breath.


23. Green Tea and Stress

L-theanine, which is a kind of amino acids in green tea, can help relieve stress and anxiety.

24. Green Tea and Allergies

EGCG found in green tea relieves allergies.
So, if you have allergies, you should really consider drinking green tea.


25. Green Tea and HIV

Scientists in Japan have found that EGCG (Epigallocatechin Gallate) in green tea can stop HIV from binding to healthy immune cells.
What this means is that green tea can help stop the HIV virus from spreading.