Herb

When black tea is produced, the oxidation of its polyphenols (antioxidant flavonoids) is promoted. Green tea is prepared with a process that prevents this oxidation. It is consumed primarily in China, Japan and a few countries in North Africa and the Middle East.

Fresh green leaf tea is particuarly rich in polyphenols, one type of which - catechins - may constitute up to 30 per cent of the dry leaf weight. Small amounts of the methylxanthines caffeine, theobromine and theophylline are also present. Polyphenols are also found in red wine and it is thought that they account for the apparent ability of red wine to protect against heart disease. Green tea has been found to have some anti-carcinogenic action in animal studies.

Green-lipped mussel extract

Also known as New Zealand green-lipped mussel extract, this is a substance extracted from this species of mussel which seems to have anti-arthritic properties for many individuals. A number of clinical trials have obtained positive results. It is not yet known how the mussel extract works on arthritis, and there appear to be three groups of responders: those who find that the product has a sustained positive effect after only one course of capsules; those who find the product effective but need to take it on a long-term basis, and those who do not find it effective at all.

Availability: widely available in health food stores.

GTF (see Glucose Tolerance Factor)

Guarana

Herb

Guarana is a South American herb which is often taken in capsule form as an tonic. Its active ingredient is known as guaranine. Although pharmacists believe that guaranine is identical to caffeine because analytical procedures cannot distinguish between the two substances, an alternative view is that guaranine is in fact 8-methyl caffeine, closely related to caffeine, but with different properties.

According to researcher Brian Hildreth (now deceased), the use of heat in the analytical procedure could even convert guaranine to caffeine.

A placebo-controlled study carried out on human volunteers, comparing the effects of guarana and caffeine found that guarana improved the speed of reaction time and accuracy in a test of hand/eye co-ordination, whereas caffeine had a detrimental effect on the performance of this task. Compared with caffeine, guarana resulted in greater alertness, calm and sociability.

Adapted from the Nutritional Health Bible by Linda Lazarides
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