TO THE TUNE OF TEA TUESDAYS (#11)

HEALTH CANADA APPROVES SEVERAL HEALTH CLAIMS FOR TEA

I wanted to share with you some excerpts from an article I read at buytea.com a while back. I thought it was interesting, so I printed it and kept it in my "tea file" to refer back to when I'm educating people about the benefits of tea. Maybe, eventually in America, we'll do some serious studies with lots of backing and proof, and come up with some useful information we can give our citizens, touting the benefits of our beloved tea.

The article says:

It's official: Tea is much more than a refreshing, great-tasting beverage. (punctuation mine)

Health Canada's Natural Health Products Directorate (NHPD) has deemed tea to be a natural health product and has officially recognized tea for its role in maintaining good health.

After a period of extensive review, the NHPD has approved three health claims for tea. All types of tea infusions (black, green, and oolong) are recognized as a source of antioxidants for the maintenance of good health. Tea is approved for increasing alertness. Tea is further accredited as helping to maintain and/or support cardiovascular health. (Wow! what a claim!)

Green tea is approved as a source of antioxidants for the maintenance of good health. It is also approved for use as an adjunct treatment in a weight management program in combination with a healthy diet and regular exercise. (People, did you hear that?!)

Louise Roberge, President of the Tea Association of Canada says, "The approved health claims will help educate consumers about the health benefits of drinking tea."

The NHPD's ruling will enable tea manufacturers to include the approved health claims on product packaging and will set stage for allowing the use of the accepted health claims in marketing tea.

Roberge says, "...Canadian consumers will know that tea is officially a healthy beverage of choice."

The scientific evidence about the numerous health benefits of tea has been mounting for nearly two decades. Hundreds of research studies have found many potential health attributes associated with tea including protection from cardiovascular disease and cancer.

Part of the Health Products and Food Branch of Health Canada, the NHPD is the regulating authority for natural health products sold in Canada. It ensures that Canadians have ready access to natural health products that are safe, effective, and of high quality (that's what I'm talking about!! We need one of these agencies in America to do the exact same thing)

The Tea Association of Canada is a not-for-profit association of leading companies and producing countries, including Sri Lanka, India, and Kenya, which is dedicated to increasing awareness of quality tea and its health benefits to Canadians. The Tea Association acts as an impartial source for information about tea. If you want to know more about tea trends, history, and production, please visit the Tea Association of Canada's website at http://www.tea.ca/. (How cool is this!)

Come on people, let's sing to the tune of tea! It doesn't just taste great. Americans, get on board. It's not just a trend, which I don't jump on board with anyway, it has been around since forever, its benefits have been known to many other older civilizations way before now, and we finally have some hard evidence that this natural, great tasting product really does work for us in so many ways. Why not discover it for yourself if you haven't already?! When you see how it can help you, share with someone else. Start spreading the news...

One of these days, hopefully soon, we just might see an article in America saying the same things and approving the same things that the Canadians and many other countries already know and have approved for the public already.

A great way to start having your "tea moments" and discovering the wonderful world of tea is to try some. You just might get your chance, free--on me, pretty soon. Enter the drawing I'm having this month to win a box or bag of America's only domestic tea source (the tea from the tea plantation in Charleston SC), Charleston SC tea. Get on board, enter to win, and then tell me later (if you win) about what you thought about this particular tea. Leave me a comment at the bottom of this post. Have a great day tea-day! (I already know, you don't have to tell me, but I said it anyway!)