Healthy indulgence: take time each day to sip this treasure from the orient—white tea

Better Nutrition, July, 2005 by Kim Schoenhals

After a long, stressful day, cup of tea in your most comfortable chair can be the perfect way to replenish your mind and body. Before reaching for the green or oolong varieties, consider the mellow, sweet flavor of white tea.

Though green tea has gotten a lot of press for its healthful properties, white tea may be even healthier because it's the least-processed form of tea. All teas are derived from the Camellia sinensis plant; the differences lie in what happens to them afterward.

White tea is picked in early spring when the leaves and buds are still young and covered in silvery hair--which gives them a white appearance and provides the beverage its name. After the buds and leaves are harvested, they undergo minimal processing to stop the oxidation that creates other forms of tea. Consequently, white tea is left with higher amounts of natural antioxidants (in the form of polyphenols), which may explain some of its healthful properties.

Recent research has compared white tea to a class of pharmaceuticals known as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), which reduce pain and swelling and have anticancer potential. However, NSAIDs--which include everything from aspirin to the recently recalled Vioxx and Celebrex--have been in the news because of risky side effects.

"Tea may provide some of the same benefits as NSAIDs without their adverse side effects," says Gayle Orner, PhD, a toxicologist at the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University. For the past several years, Orner and his colleagues have been studying green and white teas' effect on colon cancer. Most significantly, Orner reported in the journal Carcinogenesis that in mice predisposed to colon cancer, white tea prevented the disease just as effectively as sulindac, an NSAID used to treat cancer. The researchers also found that when the drugs and tea were used together, they enhanced each other's effectiveness. "The use of tea in combination with NSAIDs may allow for the use of lower, less toxic doses of NSAIDs," Orner says.

Along with its anti-inflammatory effects, white tea also has germ-killing properties, according to Milton Schiffenbauer, PhD, and his team at Pace University in New York. They put white tea in several toothpastes and then placed the paste on germs in a lab. The toothpastes laced with white tea had increased germ-killing abilities and therefore may help oral health. Of the three forms of tea used--powdered extract, tea bags and loose leaves--the strongest results were seen with the extract, presumably because of its increased concentration.

"People should drink white tea," Schiffenbauer states. He recommends two cups per day based on his findings, and notes that while white and green teas both possess germ-killing properties, the antiviral and antibacterial effects of white tea are greater than that of green tea. "Our research shows white tea extract can actually destroy in vitro the organisms that cause disease," says Schiffenbauer. "Study after study proves that it has many healing properties."

As for taking a concentrated polyphenol supplement to gain the health benefits of tea, time will tell. Most of the research has been done with tea itself, and not much is known about the effects that concentrated polyphenols in supplements have on the body. Orner prefers that people drink tea. However, he continues, "If you choose to use polyphenol supplements instead, I'd recommend not exceeding the amount present in 6-8 cups of tea." [Editor's note: This is about 3,108 mg of flavonols, the most prevalent polyphenol found in tea.]

Despite the early stages of white tea research, one thing is already certain: It's good for you and that makes it a worthwhile indulgence.