Theaflavins: One more natural bullet in your preventive health pistol.

The health benefits of Green Tea have grabbed all the publicity over the last couple of years, even though many alternative and complimentry medicine practitioners utilized Green Tea for many years prior to its popularity swing. Hopefully it will not face another farce of a study like the one conducted years ago on Ginkgo Bilboa - six weeks, 100 people - and if it hadn't been such a travesty to a good medicinal herb - we'd all be laughing that any reputable institution would have even thought to publish it. Granted Ginkgo's tremendous popularity as a mind powder/clarity enhancer made it a big target of every Pharma funded institution in the U.S.. It still is as good a vaso-dialator (one of the few that provide blood to the brain - thus the reputation.) and should be a apart of any preventive health program.

But hold on, it appears Green Tea's traditional cousin Black Tea has revealed compounds known as Theaflavins that possess a unique ability to regulate the genes that produce inflammatory cytokines and other toxic factors related to degenerative disease and aging.

Theaflavin's are unlike the flavanoid epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), which is found in Green Tea and its ability to prevent disease. Theaflavin works in a process known as nutrigenomics, which is the science of dietary control of genetic expression. These Theaflavin extracts work to active genes which reduce the damage of inflammation-based diseases such as cancer, cariovascular disease, diabetes, and others.

As more is explored, let me just say this, drink a variety of Teas - The more we learn the more promising they look.

Guest Writer Weighs In: Medical Bias

I liked what Dr. Jim Fain had to say about this issue so much that I just had to get him to let me post it ver batim. We need to lead the blind to the truth with Facts, nothing but the Facts.

Medical Bias Plus Benefits of NAC
Jim Fain, PhD
The Natural Way Column Published 2/04/09 -The Lovely County Citizen
Can you imagine that the MD who writes a health column for the big newspaper basically believes supplementation to be useless, potentially harmful and irrational? Amazing isn't it that this sort of bias still exists and comes from a well educated science based professional. Trouble is his opinion still carries a lot of weight especially for those who don't think for themselves. Contrast this with what I found about the nutritional supplement N-Acetyl Cysteine also called NAC.
Over 10,000 published scientific studies came up when I did a search on PubMed for N-Acetyl Cysteine. You just can't say that using NAC is useless or irrational in all due respect to the MD columnist. I couldn't find anything that said it was harmful either. Rather, I found that it was very helpful for a very wide range of ailments and also for the prevention of some major illnesses.
Obviously, I didn't read every one of the 10,000 plus listings on PubMed but just listing the first two pages was an eye opener. NAC has been shown to have benefit for reducing tissue damage to the heart, radiation damage, surgical complications, X-ray contrast dye damage to the kidneys and for what's called pathologic gambling. To me, if it helps reduce pathologic gambling then it should reduce most other compulsions like smoking, spending, eating, etc. PubMed showed NAC beneficial for emphysema (COPD), bronchitis, cocaine abuse, lead and cadmium detox and overdose of Tylenol (R) aka acetaminophen. In terms of disease malaria, hepatitis C and HIV had studies done showing a profound impact. For instance, one study I read said that people exposed to HIV who had enough NAC and selenium in their systems didn't get the disease. This is important. NAC has anti-cancer benefits, too. I take two capsules (1200mg)/day with selenium and molybdenum. I'm 56 almost 57... just try to keep up with me.
MDs across the globe are aware of NAC. Many of the studies were done in people as well as in laboratories. The studies were not done with the intention of proving NAC as a prescription as it is a natural supplement and frankly wouldn't make big pharma much money. NAC is in the amino family group of natural health supplements. After digestion it does create glutathione in our liver. If we supplement with glutathione it has to be "reduced" and it isn't as effective as taking NAC and producing our own in our own system. NAC becomes a powerful antioxidant that our bodies need in order to stay healthy and to reduce negatives of living. Especially, the negatives of living that come with excess.
Deciding to take action to improve our lives and health with supplements isn't useless, necessarily harmful and certainly isn't irrational, in fact taking care of yourself with good supplement choice may be one of best things you can do.
Jim Fain, PhD can be reached at 866-210-1264 toll free - Fain’s Herbacy, Eureka Springs, AR