This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Knowledge & Support Community

hndf

doc's work with in what they know. ask for provigil. Ken

Petakitty wrote:That's ok.. back to the ole 5 gallons of diet colas to get me through the day.

You might be better off drinking green tea. There has been much discussion of the benefits of epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG, which is an antioxidant in green tea) on the forums. It's both anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective.

NHE

NHE,

I had read that and now I drink about 2 qts. of that stuff a day! I just whip up a pitcher of iced and I'm off. My question is probably stupid, but does it being iced tea affect the EGCG in any way? I don't imagine, but I don't know either and I'll gladly start drinking it hot if it does.

i figured you for a tea sipper!!

Loobie wrote:I had read that and now I drink about 2 qts. of that stuff a day! I just whip up a pitcher of iced and I'm off. My question is probably stupid, but does it being iced tea affect the EGCG in any way? I don't imagine, but I don't know either and I'll gladly start drinking it hot if it does.

Wow! How many tea bags go into making your half-gallon of tea? I try to limit myself to about 4 to 5 teabags worth of tea per day (each teabag contains 2g of tea). The tea plant, Camellia sinensis, is known to accumulate fluoride which can have a negative impact on your bones if you consume too much. You may be interested in reading this prior thread which discusses this point in more detail.

http://www.thisisms.com/ftopict-4915.html

By the way, I know of no difference between drinking the green tea hot or iced. Do you use hot water to make the tea and then ice it or do you use cold water to make the tea? I've repeatedly read that the best temperature for making tea is to use fresh water at 180°F. In addition, the one thing that I have read which concerns the temperature of tea is that it shouldn't be too hot. For example, drinking piping hot tea, more than 140°F, has been shown to increase the risk of esophageal cancer.

A good all-around reference for green tea is the book "Green Tea" by Nadine Taylor, 1998. It's a few years old now and there has been much research published on green tea (and EGCG) since then but it's a good book for an introduction to green tea and it includes many references.

NHE

I go through seven bags per pitcher. You're supposed to use 8 or 9, but I just let them steep longer. I buy the box of 100 Kroger brand, which are pretty cheap. I always use boiling but make sun tea in the summer too. The box actually tells you to get the water boiling and then let it sit for a couple of minutes, so they must be trying to get you to 180 degrees! I will cut back on the iced tea. I don't drink much hot tea, and love iced tea, so it's good to know there may not be much difference. I have used that stuff in lieu of Coca-Cola, so I got kind of carried away in the amount I drink because I figured it was way better for me than all that Coke. Sounds like I may need to cut back a bit!

The provigil works but it can be expensive. Even with insurance. i Drink alot of tea but It keeps me awake at night. Now, I drink a low card Monster energy drink and I am pumped for a few hours, then I can sleep! Tea and coffee sticks with me for to long.

I usuallly will not drink any tea after about 3 o 4. However, green tea is about 1/2 the caffeine of regular/black tea, so It's not too bad for keeping one awake. It usually can't bust through the MJ when it comes to sleeping

Here's some more information on the fluoride content of green tea. This tidbit comes from the Linus Pauling Institute's Micronutrient Information Center.

http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/p ... icals/tea/

Fluoride

Tea plants accumulate fluoride in their leaves. In general, the oldest tea leaves contain the most fluoride (9). Most high quality teas are made from the bud or the first two to four leaves—the youngest leaves on the plant. Brick tea, a lower quality tea, is made from the oldest tea leaves and is often very high in fluoride. Symptoms of fluoride excess (i.e., dental and skeletal fluorosis) have been observed in Tibetan children and adults who consume large amounts of brick tea (10, 11). Unlike brick tea, fluoride levels in green, oolong, and black teas are generally comparable to those recommended for the prevention of dental caries (cavities). Thus, daily consumption of up to one liter of green, oolong, or black tea would be unlikely to result in fluoride intakes higher than those recommended for dental health (12, 13). The fluoride content of white tea is likely to be less than other teas, since white teas are made from the buds and youngest leaves of the tea plant. The fluoride contents of 17 brands of green, oolong, and black teas is presented in the table below (12). These values do not include the fluoride content of the water used to make the tea. For more information, see the separate article on Fluoride.