Tea


A recent article in the medical literature reviewed the scientific studies showing benefits and harms of regular tea drinking. The conclusions of this review were that nothing has been scientifically proven to support either tea consumption or abstinence. Careful examination of this paper was a big surprise after reading the conclusion since almost all the studies showed significantly less cardiovascular disease, cancer and other major diseases among tea regular tea drinkers. There was little controversy about this among those who looked at large groups of tea drinkers. Medical "science" has decided that studies must be performed in a certain way, typically prospective and double blinded, to be conclusive. Since it is impossible to conduct most analyses of nutrition effects in this manner, all nutrition studies are inconclusive. By these standards penicillin has not been shown to be effective against any infections and smoking not shown to cause cancer and other diseases. Ironically, prospective double blinded studies meeting scientific statistical criteria for validity have been shown to be wrong 20-50% of the time when better studies were done at a later time.

Food businesses have made good use of this sort of nonsense by sponsoring studies showing their product healthy or at least harmless and then proclaiming that while their studies are not totally scientifically proven neither are all the others done by top level independent researchers showing harm.

Bottom line is that regular tea drinking is a healthy habit for many reasons BUT regular consumption of very hot tea, or any other beverage, can lead to esophageal cancer; and adding milk destroys most of tea's (and coffee's) nutrient value.

There is a difference in the nutrient value of different forms of tea. In general the youngest, least processed tea is the healthiest. From healthiest to least: white, green, oolong, black. I've not seen a study of coffee versus tea but would guess that coffee is about as healthy as black tea. Herbal teas range from very healthy to dangerous depending on the herb(s).

                  Mysticism and Meditation

Dr. Patricia Gilbreath reminded me that Christian religious practices also can use meditation; indeed repetitive prayer like the rosary is a form of meditation. Virtual all religious traditions have individuals and groups who espouse a mystical worldview in which transcendence is a critical part of their religious practice. Meditation is often, but not always, the route into the transcendent state which can become permanent in some people. Permanent transcendence is termed enlightenment, a condition described by shamans in "primitive" societies; the Kabbalah in Judaism; sufis in Islam (where transcendence may be attained through dance- the whirling dervishes); some Christian saints and ascetics; others who espouse no particular formal religion.

The title of Rosenthal's most recent book, Super Mind, refers to the state of enlightenment which some TM practitioners reach, usually after many years of regular practice. Most TM practitioners use it for practical purposes: blood pressure reduction, anxiety or stress relief, help with addiction or insomnia and not to attain enlightenment. I have a large reading list for those interested in mysticism and enlightenment but decided that this was not pertinent for What Really Matters since, unfortunately, I have no credentials as a mystic.

                           Transcendental Meditation

Norman Rosenthal is a psychiatrist, for many years a researcher at the National Institute for Mental Health, who was the first to describe seasonal affective disorder (SAD) and the use of bright light to treat it. As a young man he practiced TM but gave it up due to the time demands of residency and research. Three decades later a patient described a wonderful recovery from depression after starting TM. Rosenthal researched the scientific literature on TM and resumed his own practice of this meditation technique, subsequently writing two books on the subject.

TM is a meditation technique developed more than 60 years ago by an Indian yogi. Its popularity soared when The Beatles publicly embraced it after studying with the yogi in India. Many millions have taken instruction in TM and there are TM teaching centers across the world. All TM centers teach the same formulaic approach to meditation which allows researchers to reliably look at its effects on the brain, behavior and performance.

TM teaches use of a mantra, recommending at least two daily sessions of 20 minutes each plus a few calm minutes before and after the meditations. The technique is simple and does not require extreme concentration just patience and persistence. Rosenthal feels it is a much easier technique to learn and follow than mindfulness, another very popular meditation practice.

Brain blood flow and electrical activity changes greatly during TM and in long time practitioners even when they are not meditating. Interestingly, these patterns are very different between TM and mindfulness practitioners. Long term TM'ers develop enlargement of the pre-frontal cortex, the brain's executive center. Multiple studies and anecdotes support TM's value for mood, sleep, anxiety, performance, addictions and relationships. The only negative is the cost which currently is $960 for adults which includes introductory lectures, four formal teaching sessions, and lifelong refresher courses and advice whenever you want. I think TM is a good, perhaps life changing, venture for many people.

                                 Meditation

Lifestyle medicine is the use of daily activities to improve health and quality of life rather than relying on drugs and medical procedures. My emphasis is on diet but I have also addressed exercise in past blogs. Another well documented approach is meditation.

Commonly used meditation techniques come from either the Vedic (Hindu) or Buddhist traditions. Buddhist approaches include mindfulness and focusing on something constant like breathing. The Vedic tradition uses a mantra, either aloud or just in thought. Both approaches have millions of devotees and millennia of history with successful application. I have tried both approaches over the past many decades but have never developed a long term regular practice.

In the early 1980's I took the Transcendental Meditation(TM) course and I used that technique regularly for six months or so but drifted away from regular practice. Our next door neighbors in Kauai are both long time TM teachers and one of them recently gave me a refresher session on TM practice and suggested a book, Super Mind, which I've read and will discuss in a subsequent blog.