Oat bran warning ahead:

(Note to youngsters or non-Americans. The oat bran phenomenon was a
huge marketing campaign based on shaky science which claimed that oats
have particular health benefits.)

In article om> you wrote:
> Hi, there are claims on the benefits of white teas too. The western
> cosmetic industry has recently discovered the benefits of white tea. In
> addition to its anticancer properties, tea has a calming and
> detoxifying effect on the skin. White tea is especially potent in that
> it is has three times as many antioxidant polyphenols as green or black
> tea and has been shown to be more effective in mopping up free radicals
> that cause skin to sag.

Let us pass over the issue of calm vs. nervous skin. There certainly
is evidence from chemical analyses that tea contains antioxidants.
But I haven't seen any clinical studies (i.e., on people) which show
that tea benefits skin. There are an awful lot of antioxidants out
there (in blueberries, pomegranates, ...) and few have been shown to
actually increase human health. This hasn't stopped the cosmetic
industry, of course. Notably, vitamin E appears to _increase_ lung
cancer rates. That's orally though. I presume that smearing small
quantities of it on your face won't hurt much except your wallet.

> Researchers at the Linus Pauling Institute in Oregon tested white teas
> on selected rats to test for the ability of white teas to inhibit
> natural mutations in bacteria and to protect the rats from colon
> cancer. Interestingly, white teas were found to be more effective than
> green tea in inhibiting the early stages of cancer but researchers were
> quick to point out that their study was on rats and the effects should
> not be extrapolated to humans.

Although this warning is encouraging, it's hard to trust the LPI after
their vitamin C debacle.

> - Athooya
> http://www.niftea.com
> your cup of tea to the healthy lifestyle


> wrote:
>> ps. I am also a nutrition-conscious vegetarian athlete, which I realise
>> are higher priorities for good health & longlife.

That of course, is beyond doubt. I do worry about taking certain marketable
aspects of that lifestyle, refining them to a product, and selling it to the
unambulatory masses.

Best,

Rick.