Cognitive Labs

Hot: Blueberries
Not: Bread and Bagels

Hot: Small Amount of Coffee
Not: Red Bull in the Afternoon

Hot: Tea
Not: Tea with Milk or .5 & .5

Hot: Salmon
Not: Panakes

Hot: Spinach
Not: White Chocolate (dark choco OK!)

Hot: Flaxseed
Not: Alcohol


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Labels: blueberries, flaxseed, health, more, spinach, tea, yahoo

Besides being a beneficial beverage for your brain and overall health due to the effects of powerful antioxidants known as flavenols, does drinking hot tea on a warm day cool you down? According to About.com, it does not.

According to thermodynamics, more heat is gained through drinking hot liquid than is lost through perspiration. However, by actually increasing your net temperature, drinking hot tea may increase the rate of cooling - providing a sensation of chill through increased sweat profusion. So, scientifically it is not true but experientially it may be perceived as so. Another example of the conundrum of experiencing in the brain the impulses provided by our nerve endings as 'reality.' Taking it to an extreme - cognitive hackers may impact our perception of reality by hijacking this CNS datastream and reorganizing the packets of information...enter the matrix.

Labels: about.com, cognitive, hacking, tea, thermodynamics

Both green and black teas have an estimated 10 times the antioxidant levels as most fruits and vegetables, including thearubigins, epicatechins, and catechins - all are considered polyphenols, a powerful type of antioxidant.

The difference between green and black teas, both from the same plant is mainly due to processing. Green tea leaves are dried and steam cured. Black tea leaves are crushed and fermented.

Numerous studies have shown that regular tea consumption improves LDL cholesterol levels and may protect against a variety of maladies. In laboratory test, green tea caused cancerous cells in rats to accelerate their lifecycle and then atrophy. Theorists believe that the antioxidant properties of tea prevent free radicals from attaching to healthy cellular tissues and beginning to homeostasize. Accumulation of free radicals is linked to blood vessel/valve damage, atherosclerosis, and cancers.

For example, in a study involving bladder cancer cells, green tea extract seemed to make the cancer cells behave oddly. They matured sooner, bound together tightly, and had a hard time multiplying. Another study found that men who drank oolong tea plus green tea extract lost more weight and total body fat, compared with men who drank plain oolong tea.

Other small studies have found that the antioxidants from drinking tea can help prevent skin cancer. There's also evidence that tea extracts applied to the skin can block sun damage that leads to skin cancer. Tea extracts have become an in-demand ingredient for various skin lotions and anti-aging treatments.

According to Dr. Jeffrey Blumberg at Tufts University, "Tea has no calories and lots of polyphenols. If you're drinking tea, you're not drinking soda, and that's a real benefit. Water doesn't give you those polyphenols."

What's the right amount?

Some benefit can be achieved with as little as two cups per day, while some tea cognoscenti (including medical researchers) drink eight to ten or more cups per day.

Labels: antioxidant, black, catechins, flavonoids, green, polyphenols, tea, thearubigins