In the beginning ..............

…. centuries ago, in China, green tea was used for ritual offerings or as a medicine, before it became a national beverage. Traditionally,  green tea was also used to clean the mouth, teeth and gums after meals. Ancient Chinese films and books depict the housekeeper of wealthy families  bringing warm tea for cleansing the mouth after eating.  Today, tea is considered a necessity of life in China, along with firewood, rice, cooking oil, salt, soya sauce and vinegar. But there’s a lot more to green tea than what you get in the pot!

Green tea was highly regarded in traditional Chinese medicine for centuries to treat everything from headaches to depression. Shennong, the Emperor acknowledged for discovering tea, was also, incidentally,  the writer of the first medicinal book in 2737 BC. He wrote, tea, ‘quenches thirst, lessens the desire for sleep, gladdens and cheers the heart’.

Green tea contains B vitamins, folate (folic acid), manganese, potassium, magnesium, caffeine and other antioxidants.  Antioxidants, are our friends, the secret behind boosting our natural cleansing or detox process and clearing toxins. Reduced toxins equals reduced disease. Amongst other things, green tea is said to boost weight loss, reduce cholesterol, combat cardiovascular disease and prevent cancer.  

Today. traditional Chinese medicine and modern science meet. And in a month that celebrated World Cancer Day (4 February 2015), it was discovered that green tea may well kill oral cancer. According to researchers, a compound found in the tea not only kills cancer cells but also keeps healthy ones undamaged. it is hoped that this discovery will lead to new treatments for oral cancer as well as other forms of cancer.

So, now, the ancient Chinese ritual of cleansing the palate with green tea after eating, doesn't seem quite so strange after all!

Next time you drink green tea, you may be preventing oral cancer.