Green Tea/New Alcohol Drinks with Caffeine

[Guest guest]

Some of you drink green tea and wholeheartedly believe it has medicinal

properties. There are some who do believe it will cure just about everything.

One thing it doesn't cure is breast cancer. I found this interesting and if you

do, too, then you will want to read it as I have.

Oct. 27, 2010 -- " A study from Japan has found no association between drinking

green tea and a reduced risk for breast cancer.

" Motoki Iwasaki, from the National Cancer Center in Tokyo, Japan, and colleagues

analyzed data from the Japan Public Health Center-based Prospective Study. They

looked at nearly 54,000 women who were questioned about their daily green tea

intake. About 12% of women drank less than one cup of green tea per week, and

27% drank five or more cups every day. During the study period, there were 581

new cases of breast cancer diagnosed.

" The researchers found that breast cancer risk did not differ between women who

drank the most green tea and women who drank the least. The findings, published

in the latest issue of Breast Cancer Research, call into question the widely

held notion that drinking green tea is a potential way to reduce the risk for

breast cancer. Iwasaki said there were several strengths to the study design,

including the number of women surveyed and the wide variation of the

participants' tea intake. "

http://tinyurl.com/23xyhfv

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THURSDAY, Oct. 29 (HealthDay News) -- " The debate over the dangers of alcoholic

energy drinks, popular among the young because they are inexpensive and carry

the added punch of caffeine, has intensified after students at colleges in New

Jersey and Washington state became so intoxicated they wound up in the hospital.

Sold under catchy names, these fruit-flavored beverages come in oversized

containers reminiscent of nonalcoholic sports drinks and sodas, and critics warn

that this is no accident. The drinks, they noted, are being marketed to young

drinkers as a safe and affordable way to drink to excess.

" One brand, a fruit-flavored malt beverage sold under the name Four Loko, has

caused special concern since it was consumed by college students in New Jersey

and Washington state before they ended up in the ER, some with high levels of

alcohol poisoning.

" The soft drink or energy drink imagery of these drinks is just dangerous window

dressing, " contends Dr. A. Weiss, an emergency medicine expert at Stanford

University's School of Medicine in Palo Alto, Calif. " It hides the fact that

you're consuming significant amounts of alcohol. And that is potentially

hazardous, because it's not only harmful to one's health, but impairs a person's

coordination and judgment. "

" In fact, these caffeinated alcoholic beverages can contain anywhere from 6% to

12% alcohol. That is the equivalent of roughly two to four beers, respectively.

And what I worry about as a trauma physician is that someone will drink one can

of this stuff and not realize how much alcohol they've consumed, " noted Weiss.

" Whereas, if they had four beers they would presumably be more mindful of the

amount of alcohol they had consumed and not go and get behind the wheel of a

car, for example. "

" And anyone who thinks that the caffeine found in such drinks can protect them

from the negative effects of intoxication will be sorely disappointed, Weiss

added.

" Old movies used to show people getting their drunk friends to consume coffee

before they get into their cars to drive themselves home, but there's just no

evidence to suggest that it works like that, " he said. " Caffeine can help keep

you awake, but it will not mitigate the effect of alcohol. It will not lessen

the loss of coordination, the poor judgments, the nausea or the sickness that

comes with excessive drinking. Someone who gets behind the wheel of a car and

starts swerving as they drive will not find that problem mitigated by caffeine. "

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FYI,

Lottie Duthu