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TEA
Not long ago researchers at Rutgers University replaced the drinking water of some of their lab mice with green tea and then exposed the whole group to chemicals that normally cause tumors. Mice that went on drinking plain water developed cancer. Most of the animals that lapped up green tea remained cancer-free.
Tea leaves are loaded with catechins, compounds that may be especially powerful at subduing the kind of cell damage thought to trigger cancer and heart disease. (Green tea has twice the levels of black tea.) When scientists at the National Defense Medical College in Japan added catechins to samples of human blood, they noted a significant decline in the kind of cholesterol oxidation that can lead to clogged arteries.
The bottom line:
At least three green tea supplements have been carefully studied. University of Kansas researcher Lester Mitscher found that the extracted catechins in one product were 100 times better at blocking genetic damage in bacteria than was vitamin C and 25 times better than vitamin E. That's not proof that tea pills will protect you, of course, but it's a strong hint.
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