Dangers of Tea: White, green, or black

« WellTellMe • Forum • Natural Health • Nutrition & Food • Beverages • Dangers of Tea: White, green, or black »

(Read 6604 times) [1] 2

Dangers of Tea: White, green, or black
« on: May 31, 2006, 12:13:06 PM » by healthyinOhio

I know this may be a little controversial and a bit upsetting to most. I too, was an avid tea drinker. I read the dangers of tea in a book called: Politically Incorrect Nutrition. I wasn't happy with just one references, so I have been doing much research on it on the internet, and so far it is ineviatable. I wrote a letter to a fellow forum person and have not heard anything, so I thought I would post it here to have others look into this as well.
I have known this material for a couple of months, now, but decided to wait awhile before posting this. I have been posting on this forum for awhile and am hoping that I have gained some trust with everyone here that I am not some crazy person against tea! I actually do do my research, so here is what I have found:

There is an epidemic of hypothyroidism in the world, but recently in the past 40 years or so in the united states. Unfortunatlely, most goes undetected. Iodized salt was made available to correct goiters from low functioning thyroids. While it did help to a certain degree, they missed a very important part. There are a number of foods that are known as goitrogens, or elements that inhibit iodine from being absorbed into the body. Two of which are the most prevelant in the US: soy and peanuts(peanut butter). Also, others that inhibit thyroid function are pesticides, mercury, and a new and uprising epedemic of : Flouride.

Flourine compounds or flourides are listed by the US Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry(ATSDR) as among the top 20 of 275 substamces that pose the most significant threat to human health.

What does flouride have to do with tea, you may ask? I will explain.

"In their drive to flouridate the public health water supplies, dental health officials continue to pretend that no other sources of flouride exist. This notion becomes absurd when one looks at the flouride content in tea. Tea is VERY high in flouride because tea leaves accumulate more flouride(from pollution and air) than any other edible plant."

"Due to industry contamination, flouride content in tea has risen dramatically over the last 20 years. There is approximately 22.2 mg of flouride per green tea bag and 17.25 mg per black tea bag." (Now, white tea is very popular, so I am making the assumption that white would probably have the highest amount of flouride.) "Aluminum content was at 8 mg per bag. One bag of black tea contains as much flouride as 7.8 liters of flouridated water."

"Consuming more than 4mg of flouride per day over a number of years will lead to arthritic symptoms which eventually turns into skeletal flouriosis."

Some of the same antioxidants found in green tea are also found in: apples, pears, red wine, grapes, and higher amounts in dark chocolate. The author of the PIN book suggested that taking an extract of green tea that has been tested and proven for a low floruide count may be acceptable.

Here as been my situation: I found this out and weaned myself off of tea. I did not eliminate it, for my grandma and I have a cup of tea together twice a month when I clean her house for her. But what I have noticed in my own body from eliminating green tea is every time I drink it I get stomach cramps. These cramps were frequent when I consumed green tea on a daily basis, but I had no idea what the culprit could be. I consumed on an average on 1-3 cups of green tea(Jasmine was my favorite) everyday for the past year or so, and that just happens to be the time that I started the green tea and had the cramping or sometimes nausea. Also, as soon as I gave it up, I had lower body temps and started to gain weight. I figured it was my thyroid acting on it's own for the first time in over a year. I have been substituting organic coconut oil and it seems to be helping. My energy is coming back and weight is coming off slowly. This was just my experiment with green tea.

Now, I am not religious with this. Like I said I have a couple cups of tea a month, but it is something that I have found of helpful information to myself and my own health and wanted to share with others so that they may research the truth for themselves. I was very glad that someone in my past(three years ago) shared the detrimental effects on the body from coffee, even though I really didn't want to hear it at the time. So, I thought I would share this with someone who might want to hear it.

Logged

Re: Dangers of Tea: White, green, or black
« Reply #1 on: May 31, 2006, 12:53:02 PM » by healthybratt

Have you considered trying a different brand? Not all teas are harvested in the same regions. So if regional pollution is the contaminant then it would stand to reason that if you obtained your tea from a different source that your tea would contain different regional contaminants (or not).

Just a thought. Grin

Logged

My favorite herb book!!

Re: Dangers of Tea: White, green, or black
« Reply #2 on: May 31, 2006, 01:00:41 PM » by Gabriel Anast

Would you please post some references... Presumably you are saying that Chinese pollution and flouride from Chinese environmental sources has contaminated most green tea sources... I wonder about this. It is a known fact, however, that tea concentrates Fluoride in its leaves. The more germane question is, "Why?" or "How is it biologically useful?"

Here is an interesting link at lef:

http://forum.lef.org/default.aspx?f=35&m=22830

The most interesting thing about your post, however, is your personal experience. This is extremely useful. Thank you for taking time to describe your particular situation.

Can you think of any other chages that you made at the same time that you stopped drinking tea?

--gabe

Logged

Re: Dangers of Tea: White, green, or black
« Reply #3 on: May 31, 2006, 01:31:27 PM » by Mama Sita

Hello healthyinOhio,

Thank you for posting this. Extremely interesting. I just recently learned that tea is very high in fluoride, too, so we were encouraged to use organic tea. I wasn't sure about fluoride levels in organic tea, but if it indeed comes from the environment, then organic tea would contain fluoride, too. Just don't have any info on it.

Out of curiosity...As Gabe asked, can you think of anything else you may have done when you quit drinking tea? Specifically, what may have contributed to your weight gain? The reason I am asking is because hypothyroidism, caused by fluoride (or any other goitrogens), actually leads to weight gain, constipation, loss of appetite, along with decreased basal metabolic rate, decreased body temperature, slowing of intellectual functions (slow/slurred speech, lethargy or tiredness, confusion), depression, apathy, decreased libido, and more.

It seems that when you have quit drinking the tea, your body temp would increase, you would actually burn more calories and thus lose weight, and you may feel some energy increase. The thyroid acts like the body's thermostat, regulating body temp and calorie burning efforts.

You have reported the exact opposite, and so if you could share any other thing that you changed, that would be interesting, as well.

Thanks for posting,
Lisa

Logged

"No one stands as tall as a Christian on his knees."
Get $5 off your first iHerb.com order: Code ISA141

Re: Dangers of Tea: White, green, or black
« Reply #4 on: May 31, 2006, 03:25:05 PM » by dara

HealthyinOhio, I am wondering if you are saying that the fluoride in tea is a contaminate from a polluted environment, or that it is contained naturally in tea. The Chinese have been drinking tea for millennia, and I know there is more than one form of the substance called fluoride, one of which is not foreign to the body. Very curious. May I ask what brand of tea you drank?

Logged

"Write your hurts in the sand
and grave your blessings in stone."

Re: Dangers of Tea: White, green, or black
« Reply #5 on: May 31, 2006, 03:46:54 PM » by healthybratt

Here's an article from mercola.com.

Logged

My favorite herb book!!

Re: Dangers of Tea: White, green, or black
« Reply #6 on: June 01, 2006, 06:23:32 AM » by Mama Sita

I was wondering if anyone knew how to detox from fluoride. Since it cumulative in the body, toxic levels may not show up until later.

I found some interesting info on how to fluoride detox here:
http://www.tldp.com/issue/202/Notes_Fluorine.htm

Anybody else know of other info???

Logged

"No one stands as tall as a Christian on his knees."
Get $5 off your first iHerb.com order: Code ISA141

Re: Dangers of Tea: White, green, or black
« Reply #7 on: June 01, 2006, 07:02:44 AM » by healthyinOhio

Sorry it took so long to get back to you all. I couldn't get on yesterday, for my computer said something about a server being too busy? Undecided

Anyways, here are a few of the references that I used. The first one is the book called: Politically Incorrect Nutrition by Michael Barbee. It contains a lot of health concerns such as consumption of soy, dangers of vegetarian eating, irradiated meat, etc. Which is why I found the green tea consumption interesting to be in there. I knew all of the other ones, but not this one, so I thought that I would research it. In his book, he gives a list of references in the back of where he got his information from. I can list that later this week, for it was our friend's book that we borrowed. But I have these two sites on the interenet that I know for sure talk about it. One is under: An Interview with Michael Barbee at about.com , and the other is: http://www.rvi.net/~fluoride/ with an article titled fluoride-worse than we thought.

I never had any other change in my diet or schedule than the green tea. At first, I did not associate my low temps and body weight gain from giving up the tea, but then researched that it went into a shock at first and then was able to regulate itself normally. That's when I made the green tea association. I have always had lower temps, but this took a dramatic plunge before it got better.

As for pollution, I thought about just buying organic green tea, too. But then I realized pollution in the "air" has nothing to do with an organic farmer using pesticides, etc. I can grow my garden in my back yard and probably get air pollution from Detroit!!

I know there is a lot of beneficial articles on green tea. They are everywhere. But it was the same way with soy. Soy is everywhere and is still being marketed as a safe and healthy source of food. Is there a chance that science is wrong again with green tea? I once heard someone say that science was a whore. Always changing it's partner! That was from a Christian quote, too!

This is for everyone to research on their own and to share with others. I hope that I and this situation can be proved wrong!

I would love to drink my tea again, but for now I am better off with out it.

Let us know what everyone can find!

« Last Edit: October 24, 2006, 12:09:24 PM by healthyinOhio »
Logged

Re: Dangers of Tea: White, green, or black
« Reply #8 on: June 02, 2006, 01:29:18 AM » by nursegirl

"Science is a whore!" You crack me up! It is true though. Don't know anything about the tea/fluoride thing, but I had to comment on that!

Logged

Re: Dangers of Tea: White, green, or black
« Reply #9 on: June 03, 2006, 11:46:59 PM » by juncusbalticus

what about herbal teas?

You mentioned dark chocolate?

Logged

Re: Dangers of Tea: White, green, or black
« Reply #10 on: August 11, 2006, 01:05:44 PM » by khix

I know this topic is old, but I have 2 questions:

1) (same as above) - what about other herbal teas?

2) Do you think it's ok if I drink green tea only once every few days? Also, about the antioxident benefits - what other foods/drinks would have the same benefits?

Logged

Save $5 on your first order at www.iHerb.com! Use referral code HIC104.

www.campaignforliberty.com

Want something cross-stitched, but no time to get it done? You provide me with chart/material & I will cross-stitch it for you, for payment or trade! PM me for info.

Re: Dangers of Tea: White, green, or black
« Reply #11 on: August 11, 2006, 01:56:52 PM » by healthyinOhio

Quote from: khix on August 11, 2006, 01:05:44 PM

I know this topic is old, but I have 2 questions:

1) (same as above) - what about other herbal teas?

It was my understanding, while doing this research, that it was the actual "tea" leaves that collected the excessive amounts of fluoride. Not an herb. Although, we call an herbal tea "tea" it is different from the actual "tea" leaf. One is a leaf(tea) the other is a term to describe a soaking of herbs, roots, and such in an amount of water. I hope that I have not confused you even more. Wink

Quote

2) Do you think it's ok if I drink green tea only once every few days? Also, about the antioxidant benefits - what other foods/drinks would have the same benefits?

I drank a cup of green tea daily. I told myself that it was for the benefits and the antioxidants. I lied to myself, because I knew that if I didn't have a cup every day then I would get a caffeine withdrawl headache. I just didn't want to be "addicted" to anything in my life and decided to stop. It may be different for you or anyone else who drinks tea. This was a personal decision that I had to make for myself.

I read that chocolate has more of the antioxidants than the green tea, but has the caffeine as well. Caffeine effects people differently. I am sensitive to it. Caffeine is also found naturally in mushrooms and garlic, too. I am addicted to garlic and love it!! Maybe that is why!? Grin

« Last Edit: August 11, 2006, 02:05:32 PM by healthybratt »
Logged

Re: Dangers of Tea: White, green, or black
« Reply #12 on: August 11, 2006, 03:19:41 PM » by khix

I lied to myself, because I knew that if I didn't have a cup every day then I would get a caffeine withdrawl headache

Hmm, that's interesting. The green tea I bought says it's naturally decaffinated. Is that good? I do try to stay away from caffeine. I don't drink any colas, or coffee, or tea (except green & some herbal), or even eat much chocolate. And on a different note, our water here is not flouridated, so that's good, and so I'm hoping that drinking green tea only a couple times a week is ok.

Logged

Re: Dangers of Tea: White, green, or black
« Reply #13 on: August 11, 2006, 09:15:24 PM » by healthyinOhio

Quote from: khix on August 11, 2006, 03:19:41 PM

Hmm, that's interesting. The green tea I bought says it's naturally decaffeinated. Is that good? I do try to stay away from caffeine.

I won't be the one to tell you to drink the tea or not. I JUST CAN'T DO IT!!!! Grin

As for the decaffeinating process, it is a very chemically dangerous process. I believe the chemicals that they use to decaffeinate coffee and tea is horrible on your stomach. It combines with the acids in your stomach and does much damage. They say if you only drink a few cups of tea or coffee a month, then to do it caffeinated instead of decaffeinated. But don't just depend on my research. I would see if you could find anything else on the subject before you quit anything. My input is here for those who wish to further their study. I just don't like to tell people what to do, if I am making any sense.

Logged

Re: Dangers of Tea: White, green, or black
« Reply #14 on: August 12, 2006, 12:08:43 AM » by annafogg1

Since both my oldest have been in England this summer, learnt some interesting facts. One is that 87% of the British drink tea everyday! It is really cultural, I suppose. My daughter had a tea party and I was amazed that a couple of the girls she invited had never had tea before, and one was quite nervous about it! I had to assure them that they would enjoy it and put an ice cube in it for them.

~anna in md of Little Bird Quilts
see my quilts and family at _http://tinyurl.com/3q824
**NEW PHOTOS JUST ADDED**

Logged

I am: The Righteousness Of Christ & the Wife of 1 Hunky Carpenter, Mom of 7, Jade-20, Zach-18, Noah-16, Nadia-13, Eliza-Jane-10, Summer-8 & Sarah Rose-7~
Folk Artist, Quilt Instructor/Designer, Taxi Driver, Reader of Great Books, Chef of Mega-Sized Meals, CottageGardener, Read-Alouder, Hair Doer

Re: Dangers of Tea: White, green, or black
« Reply #15 on: August 12, 2006, 03:13:20 PM » by khix

Quote from: healthyinOhio on August 11, 2006, 09:15:24 PM

[/color]

Wow, I had no idea! I'll look into it more, as time permits.

Logged

Re: Dangers of Tea: White, green, or black
« Reply #16 on: October 05, 2006, 04:55:26 PM » by bethj82

Do I really have to give up my tea too?

Logged

Re: Dangers of Tea: White, green, or black
« Reply #17 on: October 24, 2006, 10:39:18 AM » by Elizab04

Wouldn't the problem be whether the flouride in the tea leaves is natural or if it is from the flouride that is put in our drinking water?

Logged

Re: Dangers of Tea: White, green, or black
« Reply #18 on: October 24, 2006, 11:30:47 AM » by healthybratt

Quote from: Elizab04 on October 24, 2006, 10:39:18 AM

Wouldn't the problem be whether the flouride in the tea leaves is natural or if it is from the flouride that is put in our drinking water?

It comes from the air. It's not naturally occuring.

Logged

My favorite herb book!!

Re: Dangers of Tea: White, green, or black
« Reply #19 on: October 24, 2006, 11:49:35 AM » by Elizab04

Quote from: healthybratt on October 24, 2006, 11:30:47 AM

Quote from: Elizab04 on October 24, 2006, 10:39:18 AM

Wouldn't the problem be whether the flouride in the tea leaves is natural or if it is from the flouride that is put in our drinking water?

It comes from the air. It's not naturally occuring.

How does it get in the air? Could the stuff evaporate from the water where they have it naturally occuring?

Logged

Re: Dangers of Tea: White, green, or black
« Reply #20 on: October 24, 2006, 12:08:25 PM » by healthybratt

Quote from: Elizab04 on October 24, 2006, 11:49:35 AM

Quote from: healthybratt on October 24, 2006, 11:30:47 AM

Quote from: Elizab04 on October 24, 2006, 10:39:18 AM

Wouldn't the problem be whether the flouride in the tea leaves is natural or if it is from the flouride that is put in our drinking water?

It comes from the air. It's not naturally occuring.

How does it get in the air? Could the stuff evaporate from the water where they have it naturally occuring?

Sorry, I answered this too quickly. It's been awhile since I read this thread. There is some speculation that the flouride comes from contminents in the air where the tea is harvested. There is some controversy. More research is needed. I would try google to see what you can find. If times allows, I'll try to look into this further.

Logged

My favorite herb book!!

Re: Dangers of Tea: White, green, or black
« Reply #21 on: October 25, 2006, 10:36:02 PM » by Deb

I just read a little news article in one of those "baby" magazines they have out in doctor's offices and I can't remember the name of it , but it said some new study found that pregnant women who drink 2 or more cups of green tea a day are twice as likely for their baby to have spina bifida or neural tube defects! Wow, I thought green tea was great! Has anyone else read or heard anything on this? It was just a little piece and that was about all it said, not really details.I was just hoping to find out more.

Logged

Re: Dangers of Tea: White, green, or black
« Reply #22 on: October 26, 2006, 04:12:36 AM » by intaiwan

Quote from: Deb on October 25, 2006, 10:36:02 PM

I would have problems believe this as many Asians drink more than that a day, even when pregnant.
Deana--in Taiwan

Logged

Re: Dangers of Tea: White, green, or black
« Reply #23 on: October 26, 2006, 07:04:47 AM » by Elizab04

Quote from: intaiwan on October 26, 2006, 04:12:36 AM

Quote from: Deb on October 25, 2006, 10:36:02 PM

I would have problems believe this as many Asians drink more than that a day, even when pregnant.
Deana--in Taiwan

If you go to babycenter.com they pretty much scare you about eating anything. "Is is safe to eat.... while pregnant. We don't know. It might do this, that, and the other thing to you and the baby." I looked up tea. They really are not very positive about it, especially red raspberry leaf, so I don't take what they say seriously either.

Logged

Re: Dangers of Tea: White, green, or black
« Reply #24 on: October 26, 2006, 08:21:40 AM » by WithLoveAndJoy

I read the babycenter.com article about herbal tea and it actually said that they don't know much about red rasberry leaf tea, but they weren't saying it was bad. They said that it should be fine, but they weren't sayign that you shouldn't have it.

Logged

Visit my blog and see my deals for the week

http://homemakersresource.blogspot.com/

Re: Dangers of Tea: White, green, or black
« Reply #25 on: October 27, 2006, 08:03:20 AM » by Elizab04

Quote from: joyfullyhis on October 26, 2006, 08:21:40 AM

Wierd. I just went back on to look at the article, and it is a different article than I read. The one I read was negative. The one I found today was not. Oh well. That's good.

Logged

Re: Dangers of Tea: White, green, or black
« Reply #26 on: October 27, 2006, 11:51:01 AM » by KeepItSimple

So if 'tea leaves' are pulling fluoride out of the air...making tea bad for you...do all herbs do this as well? I'm not up on plants (pretty much I can't tell a weed from a 'good plant')..but wouldn't it have the same effect??

Also..if all the teas seem to bad for you..are there any good ones? We just switched to green tea because we heard it was better for you...but we are against fluoride consumption?

My word...it's getting to the point where we can't eat anything Cry

Logged

Wife to a wonderful man who happens to be a Chiropractor (aren't I blessed??) and home schooling mom to four great kids: Victoria ~16, Jacob ~13, Marlee ~8, David ~6

Re: Dangers of Tea: White, green, or black
« Reply #27 on: October 27, 2006, 03:12:47 PM » by chrysalyde

About weight gain and tea. I drink tea daily (black or green), and have been losing weight a lot. I weigh less than when I was 15, even though I've had two babies since. I was a bit worried with this weight loss (I get tired of people thinking I'm an anorexic teenager, when I'm just a 92 pound nursing mom who eats more than her husband), so I asked my doctor about it. She said if the weight loss continued, to stop drinking tea. I didn't ask her why, but I'm suspecting she said that because of the caffeine which makes my metabolism burn more calories. I don't think it had anything to do with fluoride, but I might be wrong.

Also, here they make us give fluoride to our babies and children to prevent cavities. Is that bad or dangerous ? If so, I won't feel as guilty about forgetting to give it to them !

Logged

Re: Dangers of Tea: White, green, or black
« Reply #28 on: April 18, 2007, 06:08:15 PM » by westernmama

I know this is an old thread, but I thought I'd revive it again. What have you ladies done since reading this thread? Are you all still drinking your black or green tea? I'm wondering if it truly is bad for us. I guess I look forward to my iced sweet tea with a Sunday dinner. Don't know if I want to give it up! Maybe some of you have found some different info on it in the past few months. I just read the article on NGJ's website that Rebekah wrote about green tea. I'm wondering if it's one of those things that the health benefits outweigh the risks.