I've been experimenting with chewing and
swallowing green tea leaves. I've been eating
them right from the tea box. I rather like them.

Has anyone else here ever tried this? Is it
healthful do you think? Do you think that I
should infuse them first? Some people chew
tobacco leaves; why not chew tea leaves?

George

On Sep 17, 4:24 pm, "George Cherry"
wrote:
I've been experimenting with chewing and
swallowing green tea leaves. I've been eating
them right from the tea box. I rather like them.

Has anyone else here ever tried this? Is it
healthful do you think? Do you think that I
should infuse them first? Some people chew
tobacco leaves; why not chew tea leaves?

George

I have done this, as a matter of fact, that's part of how I try out a
tea new to me. More often, I chew a small amount of the brewed leaf.
I would imagine you should make it a small enough amount so there
won't be a caffeine problem. Also, tea might stain your teeth.
Toci

"toci" wrote in message
oups.com...
On Sep 17, 4:24 pm, "George Cherry"
wrote:
I've been experimenting with chewing and
swallowing green tea leaves. I've been eating
them right from the tea box. I rather like them.

Has anyone else here ever tried this? Is it
healthful do you think? Do you think that I
should infuse them first? Some people chew
tobacco leaves; why not chew tea leaves?

George

I have done this, as a matter of fact, that's part of how I try out a
tea new to me. More often, I chew a small amount of the brewed leaf.

You chew a small amount. Do you swallow it?

I would imagine you should make it a small enough amount so there
won't be a caffeine problem. Also, tea might stain your teeth.

The caffeine does indeed seem stronger from tea consumed this way.
As for teeth staining, I rinse my mouth thoroughly after one of my tea
leaf chews.

I found a web site for a new company that is marketing
a tea leaf (laced with nicotine) intended as a substitute
for chewing tobacco. The nicotine addition is not for me,
but the inventor's idea is to lure smokeless tobacco
users away from chewing tobacco.

Since there are good things in tea leaves, why not get
it all? I eat broccoli AND drink the water it's cooked in;
I don't just drink its cooking water.

George

I say why not? I have chewed firstly a white tea leaf and rather
enjoyed it so I have tried most of the whole leaf types. Just one or
two tho. And white tea like silver needles was my most favorite
Jenn

"Jenn" wrote in message
ups.com...
I say why not? I have chewed firstly a white tea leaf and rather
enjoyed it so I have tried most of the whole leaf types. Just one or
two tho. And white tea like silver needles was my most favorite

Okay, thanks. My next question: do you buy your
"white tea like silver needles" on-line? If so, would
you please give the link. I've been buying my tea
in the super market and would like to do better
than that--now that I'm eating the whole leaf.

George

On Sep 17, 10:24 pm, "George Cherry"
wrote:
I've been experimenting with chewing and
swallowing green tea leaves. I've been eating
them right from the tea box. I rather like them.


While I will chew a dry leaf as a preliiminary assessment of tea
quality if I cannot cup it, and fresh buds in the field to give an
indication of the potential of the bushes (very bitter is best) it's
not my idea of "tea heaven". In South East Asia, fresh tea leaves
(Camellia sinensis) are pickled using a naturally induced
lactobacillus ferment (like saurkraut) to make a sour tasting snack.
In Myanmar the product is called leppet-so, in Thailand it is known as
miang. The leaves preserved this way keep for months. I tasted some,
somewhere, maybe in Nepal, and though not unpleasant was not worth
crossing the road for again.

Nigel at Teacraft

On Sep 17, 6:00 pm, Jenn wrote:
I say why not? I have chewed firstly a whitetealeaf and rather
enjoyed it so I have tried most of the whole leaf types. Just one or
two tho. And whitetealike silver needles was my most favorite
Jenn

PLEASE STOP CHEWING YOUR TEA LEAVES!!!!
I am assuming you are in the states or in another "westernized"
country.
Fluoride is in your toothpaste and in your drinking water. This is
generally natrium fluoride.
Fluoride in tea is generally calcium fluoride.
Fluoride is VERY present in tea leaves!
Fluoridosis is a disease of over-consumption of fluoride that destroys
bones and teeth.
The more EGCG in tea the lower the fluoride; however, it's still in
there.
The American Journal of Medicine in its January issue carried a study
from the FDA (this study continues) measuring fluoride in instant teas
that are commercially used for "iced tea". Since the USA is the
world's largest consumer of these teas, they initiated this study
which is now measuring fluoride levels in most widely used teas.
The results in these instant teas were very high - up to 6.5 parts per
million.
Drink your tea. In my opinion, the benefits outweigh the hazards
unless you're doing several gallons a day.
If your chewing tea leaves as one would tobacco, you might want to say
good-bye to your teeth and perhaps your jawbones, as well.
This is just my personal opinion.
Shen

that would be a rather hefty ingestion of tea leaf that would produce
fluoride toxicity.

i have not heard of fluoride causing anything except in children's
teeth, and thats discoloration.

maybe someone who works in the emergency department could tell stories
of fluoride toxicity in children who ate fluoridated tootpaste.

if theres anything to worry regarding bones and teeth in the top
concerns is not fluoride.

~~~~~~~~~
PLEASE STOP CHEWING YOUR TEA LEAVES!!!!
I am assuming you are in the states or in another "westernized"
country.
Fluoride is in your toothpaste and in your drinking water. This is
generally natrium fluoride.
Fluoride in tea is generally calcium fluoride.
Fluoride is VERY present in tea leaves!
Fluoridosis is a disease of over-consumption of fluoride that destroys
bones and teeth.
The more EGCG in tea the lower the fluoride; however, it's still in
there.
The American Journal of Medicine in its January issue carried a study
from the FDA (this study continues) measuring fluoride in instant teas
that are commercially used for "iced tea". Since the USA is the
world's largest consumer of these teas, they initiated this study
which is now measuring fluoride levels in most widely used teas.
The results in these instant teas were very high - up to 6.5 parts per
million.
Drink your tea. In my opinion, the benefits outweigh the hazards
unless you're doing several gallons a day.
If your chewing tea leaves as one would tobacco, you might want to say
good-bye to your teeth and perhaps your jawbones, as well.
This is just my personal opinion.
Shen

On Sep 18, 2:53 pm, SN wrote:

if theres anything to worry regarding bones and teeth in the top
concerns is not fluoride.

that should be: in a healthy, grown, adult.

On Sep 18, 11:53 am, SN wrote:
that would be a rather hefty ingestion of tea leaf that would produce
fluoride toxicity.

i have not heard of fluoride causing anything except in children's
teeth, and thats discoloration.

maybe someone who works in the emergency department could tell stories
of fluoride toxicity in children who ate fluoridated tootpaste.

if theres anything to worry regarding bones and teeth in the top
concerns is not fluoride.

~~~~~~~~~

PLEASE STOP CHEWING YOUR TEA LEAVES!!!!
I am assuming you are in the states or in another "westernized"
country.
Fluoride is in your toothpaste and in your drinking water. This is
generally natrium fluoride.
Fluoride in tea is generally calcium fluoride.
Fluoride is VERY present in tea leaves!
Fluoridosis is a disease of over-consumption of fluoride that destroys
bones and teeth.
The more EGCG in tea the lower the fluoride; however, it's still in
there.
The American Journal of Medicine in its January issue carried a study
from the FDA (this study continues) measuring fluoride in instant teas
that are commercially used for "iced tea". Since the USA is the
world's largest consumer of these teas, they initiated this study
which is now measuring fluoride levels in most widely used teas.
The results in these instant teas were very high - up to 6.5 parts per
million.
Drink your tea. In my opinion, the benefits outweigh the hazards
unless you're doing several gallons a day.
If your chewing tea leaves as one would tobacco, you might want to say
good-bye to your teeth and perhaps your jawbones, as well.
This is just my personal opinion.
Shen

Perhaps, you may not have heard of problems with fluoride, but there
are innumerable references to excessive fluoride conditions on the
web, in WHO studies and in medical journals. This is an active debate
which has gone on the in public health community for more than 50
years.
Our dear friend is a newly retired Chicago Public Water System
executive and he tells us that there is much more than an adequate
dose of fluoride already in water.
You just have to look to areas in Northern China, Africa and South
America to see fluorosis.
Excessive fluoride cause bone and cartilage malformation and can cause
loss of teeth and osteosarcoma. It is especially dangerous for folks
with kidney issues (hemodialysis), diabetes and thyroid problems since
it can counteract iodine.
Supposedly, drinking water in the US is safe (I have doubts); however,
to add to the consumption of fluoride, which does, by the way, build
up in bones and can support joint calcification and is in soil
already, in a totally unnecessary way, seems foolish to me.
When we lived in the Midwest, I used reverse osmosis to limit the
amount of additives in my tea water.
And, god-knows-what-else is on those tea leaves since the poster does
not indicate his leaves are organic.
And, most over-the-counter standard drugstore toothpastes and
mouthwashes do contain fluoride.
So, try it once or twice if you need to - but, why? and why chance it?
That's all. It's just my professional opinion. I would not recommend
chewing tea leaves to any of my patients.
Shen

So, try it once or twice if you need to - but, why? and why chance it?

On Sep 18, 12:19 pm, SN wrote:
On Sep 18, 2:53 pm, SN wrote:

if theres anything to worry regarding bones and teeth in the top
concerns is not fluoride.

that should be: in a healthy, grown, adult.

It is primarily grown adults in excessive fluoride studies that are
suffering. We're talking excessive here - not a pot of tea a day.
Shen

On Sep 17, 3:55 pm, "George Cherry"
wrote:
"toci" wrote in message

oups.com...

On Sep 17, 4:24 pm, "George Cherry"
wrote:
I've been experimenting with chewing and
swallowing green tea leaves. I've been eating
them right from the tea box. I rather like them.

Has anyone else here ever tried this? Is it
healthful do you think? Do you think that I
should infuse them first? Some people chew
tobacco leaves; why not chew tea leaves?

George

I have done this, as a matter of fact, that's part of how I try out a
tea new to me. More often, I chew a small amount of the brewed leaf.

You chew a small amount. Do you swallow it?

I would imagine you should make it a small enough amount so there
won't be a caffeine problem. Also, tea might stain your teeth.

The caffeine does indeed seem stronger from tea consumed this way.
As for teeth staining, I rinse my mouth thoroughly after one of my tea
leaf chews.

I found a web site for a new company that is marketing
a tea leaf (laced with nicotine) intended as a substitute
for chewing tobacco. The nicotine addition is not for me,
but the inventor's idea is to lure smokeless tobacco
users away from chewing tobacco.

Since there are good things in tea leaves, why not get
it all? I eat broccoli AND drink the water it's cooked in;
I don't just drink its cooking water.

George

Scary!!!!!!!!
Shen

you got me all interested in this subject,
not trying to "fight", but continue a discussion:

first of all,
osteosarcoma
i have yet to see something that had fluoride as etiology for
osteosarcoma
uptodate:
the majority of osteosarcomas are sporadic (= no exact cause set),
while inherited predisposition accounts for a minority of cases.
Risk factors:
Prior irradiation or chemotherapy
Paget's disease and other benign bone lesions
Inherited conditions - Genetic conditions : ...retinoblastoma, Li-
Fraumeni syndrome, Rothmund-Thomson syndrome, and the related Bloom
and Werner syndromes
blah: bone tumors arise from an aberration of the normal process of
bone growth and remodeling at a time when rapidly proliferating cells
are particularly susceptible to oncogenic agents, mitotic errors, or
other events leading to neoplastic transformation [18]. However,
studies examining the relationship between factors related to growth
and development and the risk of bone sarcomas have revealed no
consistent pattern

2.
fluoride = loss of teeth, and jaw bone ???
never heard of that
excess fluoride will do some damage in child's teeth impairing enamel
formation or something,
but
loss of jaw bone!!!??? where do you find this????


3:
do you have any published studies in big journals, not pubmed obscure
research articles?

http://search.nejm.org/search?p=Q&ts=subs&w=fluoride
62 articles
only 2 have fluoride in the title and they concern acute poisoning in
children.

http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/338/10/681 (1998)
Moreover, primary mineralization defects, whether genetic (as in
hypophosphatasia) or acquired (e.g., as a result of excess fluoride,
aluminum, or bisphosphonate), are rare causes of rickets or
osteomalacia.

nejm Volume 333:1495-1496 November 30, 1995 Number 22
Internationally, the agents used most widely for the treatment of
postmenopausal osteoporosis are calcium, estrogen, calcitonin,
fluoride, calcitriol, and an early bisphosphonate, etidronate. In
general, these agents can be divided into two categories according to
whether they stimulate bone formation or inhibit bone resorption.
Fluoride, the only one of these agents that stimulates bone formation,
can increase bone density substantially. The effect of fluoride on the
risk of fractures has been disappointing, although reanalysis of the
data from one large trial showed a protective effect in women who had
moderate increases in bone density,3 and new, slow-release
formulations offer promise.

nejm Preventing Glucocorticoid-Induced Osteoporosis 337:420, August 7,
1997
increases bone density. There is also some evidence of the
effectiveness of calcitonin and fluoride in this context.

---
Rao, TKS, Friedman, EA. Fluoride and bone disease in uremia. Kidney
Int 1975; 7:125.
Fluoride - Fluoride is added to water to prevent dental caries; this
agent may contribute to bone disease in hemodialysis patients,
although the evidence for such a role is weak .
---
----
Journal of the american society of nephrology
search in title : fluoride, fluorosis: NO RESULTS.
---
JAMA
20 articles with fluoride in title
:
Fluoride Supplements for Kids , Tracy Hampton, PhD, JAMA.
2004;291:2421.
urging primary care physicians to prescribe oral fluoride supplements
to infants older than 6 months and preschool children if their
community water supply is deficient in fluoride
ask local health departments about water fluoride levels to avoid
oversupplementation. Excess levels of fluoride can lead to fluorosis
and cause mild discoloration of teeth.

--
http://www.ada.org/prof/resources/po...de_infants.asp

ADA Positions & Statements

Interim Guidance on Fluoride Intake for Infants and Young Children


Recent studies cited in the report of the National Research Council
(NRC), "Fluoride in Drinking Water: A Scientific Review of EPA's
Standards," have raised the possibility that infants could receive a
greater than optimal amount of fluoride through liquid concentrate or
powdered baby formula that has been mixed with water containing
fluoride during a time that their developing teeth may be susceptible
to enamel fluorosis.

The appropriate amount of fluoride is essential to prevent tooth
decay. But fluoride intake above optimal amounts can create a risk for
enamel fluorosis in teeth during their development before eruption
through the gums.

Enamel fluorosis is not a disease but rather affects the way that
teeth look. Most cases of fluorosis result in faint white lines or
streaks on tooth enamel that are not readily apparent to the affected
individual or the casual observer.

I've been experimenting with chewing and
swallowing green tea leaves. I've been eating
them right from the tea box. I rather like them.

I would worry about kidney stones

On Sep 19, 8:11 am, "Slint Flig" wrote:

I would worry about kidney stones

At the risk of appearing repetitive on this thread; the chewing (as a
masticatory) and the eating (as a common hors d'oevre) of pickled tea
leaves is common and traditional practice in northern Thailand and
Myanmar, apparently without ill effect.

Nigel at Teacraft