Taking tea: drink up!(organics: all things purely organic)

To some, tea is more than just a beverage, it's a vaccine. Even as far back as the sixth century, tea was considered a remedy tot headaches, kidney trouble, poor digestion and ulcers. In the past decade, tea sales in the United States have doubled as Americans seeking healthier lifestyles have turned to tea for its benefits.

Healthy Habit

Studies have found that tea is rich in antioxidants that neutralize flee radicals-harmful inns that can damage cells in the body and lead to cancer, heart disease and stroke.

A recent study at Harvard found that one cup of black tea a day cuts the risk of heart attack by 44 percent. At tire Third International Scientific Symposium on Tea and Human Health, researchers concluded that 30-32 oz. of tea daily (about 4 or 5 cups) could decrease the risk of DNA damage caused by smoking. In February 2003, Yoshikazu Takanatal, a researcher at Tokyo Medical University in Japan, found that an alter-dinner cup of tea helps to counteract some of the harmful effects of a fatty meal by promoting healthful blood flow, thereby reducing stress on the arteries.

Tea is also rich in vitamins and nutrients. According to a 2002 study published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the fluoride in tea might help protect women against osteoporosis. A study in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry found that black and green teas are more effective antioxidants than garlic, broccoli, carrots and even Brussels sprouts.

Though tea contains caffeine, one cup of black tea the most heavily caffeinated variety--contains only about half the caffeine of a cup of coffee. So tea doesn't produce the jitters that coffee does. As Sebastian Beckwith of the tea-importing company In Pursuit of Tea says, "Tea makes you happy; coffee makes you nervous."

Tea Types