Time For Tea?

I love a good cup of coffee, and people who know me well know to steer clear until I've had my morning cup. Recently, however, there has been a lot of news out there regarding the benefits of green tea. Tea's antioxidant qualities have been linked with a lot of great benefits, some of which include slowing the aging process, assisting in weight loss, possibly lowering cholesterol, as well as helping keep blood pressure in check. 

And now, University of Mississippi Medical Center researchers have found an interesting link between green tea and breast cancer. One of the antioxidants in green tea---epigallocatechin-3-gallate (better known as EGCG)---has been shown to significantly inhibit the growth of breast cancer in female mice.

The antioxidant has been credited with perhaps decreasing tumor blood vessel formation as well as lowering the amount of nutrients in the tumor that promote growth and proliferation. These findings were presented at this year's annual meeting of the American Physiological Society in San Diego.

So, although I doubtfully can give up my coffee habit anytime in the near future, I may need to start incorporating a little bit of green tea into my everyday routine.