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Green Tea:
Metabolic Enhancer, Life Extender,
Cancer Eradicator?
Page 3 of 3
The pharmaceutical industry can't patent anything that comes directly from nature; they must extract a part of the plant and add chemicals to it in order to get a patent on the resulting product. Also, they despise competition. They successfully lobbied for more than a decade to get ma huang (ephedra) taken off they market, without scientific proof that it had ever harmed anyone, to make way for over-priced and ineffectual weight loss drugs, while continuing to add the herb to over the counter drugs of their own (they call it ephedrine).
As far as the FDA goes, they are paid more than half a billion dollars just to review research data produced by the pharmaceutical industry. The FDA does not do research or test the products themselves. That's why Fen-Phen and Vioxx were able to make it to market. And when FDA execs "retire" they find easy employment in the pharmaceutical industry, usually sitting on a board of directors and making an obscene amount of money. All in all, a pretty sweet deal.
This doesn't mean the whole machine is corrupt and being run by heartless mercenaries, who care more about your money than your health, but the fact remains that the FDA has contradicted themselves on the subject of green tea.
For example:
In the March 1996 issue of FDA Consumer Magazine an article was written about the potential benefits of green tea. At that time they had not yet done any reviews of the potential benefits of green tea and were waiting until health claims were filed, or so they said. They have since denied at least two petitions to make qualified health claims as to the health benefits of green tea.
On June 30, 2005, in response to "green Tea and Reduced Risk of Cancer Health Claim," they stated: "FDA concludes that there is no credible evidence to support qualified health claims for green tea consumption and a reduced risk of gastric, lung, colon/rectal, esophageal, pancreatic, ovarian, and combined cancers. Thus, FDA is denying these claims. However, FDA concludes that there is very limited credible evidence for qualified health claims specifically for green tea and breast cancer and for green tea and prostate cancer, provided that the qualified claims are appropriately worded so as not to mislead consumers."
However, in October 2006, the FDA approved an ointment based on green tea -- New Drug Application (NDA) number N021902, for kunecatechins ointment 15% (proprietary name Veregen) was approved on October 31, 2006. Kunecatechins ointment is indicated for the topical treatment of external genital and perianal warts.
What a difference a patent makes!
This is not to say green tea consumption will benefit everyone.
Pharmacological and toxicological evidence does indicate that green tea polyphenols can in fact cause oxidative stress and liver toxicity in vivo at high concentrations. This suggests that consumers should exercise caution when consuming herbal products produced from concentrated green tea extract, while other evidence cautions against the drinking of green tea by pregnant women and surgical patients. But for those who are not pregnant or having surgery in the near future, and are capable of exercising reasonable judgment, these considerations should serve as guardians against over-consumption of green tea, nothing more. Whether the risks outweigh the benefits is a judgment only the individual consumer can, or should, make.
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