Toxicology and Green Tea

Uh oh, what now.  Green tea is good for us, right?  That is what all the TV doctors, and morning show do-nothings and "experts" all talk about.  And they are correct, green tea is one of those things that have proven to reduce the bad cholesterol in your blood, and has even gotten some great reviews as one of the great antioxidants that really can prevent cancer.  Of course that is as far as the scientific claims for the stuff go, TV, newspapers, magazines and who knows how many ads on the internet for companies out there are claiming that the stuff is the modern miracle of the world at this time and make claims for longevity, weight loss, improved sex lives, larger penises, better everything.  Well, maybe the last bit is an exaggeration.  But there are some pretty enormous claims out there.  Who knows, maybe there is some truth to them.

The problem, fluorine.  Specifically fluoride compounds and free fluoride.  The USDA has a list, (HERE) listing the average findings of free fluorides in many common foods and beverages.  And green tea, as well as black tea.  With instant teas being very high.  And just for anyone that drinks soda, those are scary.  And even bottled waters have free fluorides in them.  And yes, everyone has had the fluoride thing drilled into them since grade school, how fluoride is the BEST way to fight tooth decay.  What a crock, the best way to fight tooth decay is to never drink soda.  Or sports drinks, or juice, or any liquid that is high in fructose, especially High Fructose Corn Syrup.  Carbonation just makes it all the more detrimental to your teeth by acidifyng the liquid you put in your mouth. 

I drink tea myself, usually mint tea sweetened with stevia.  And I put some other stuff in there as well, mullein, rosehips, nutmeg, rosemary.  It's nice, very refreshing.  Lately i have been putting some green tea into the mix, just because of the health benefits that are so predominately hawked on media everywhere.  I think I will stop though, or at least until I can find a definitive listing of fluoride content by brand name.  So far, I have yet to find one.  It costs money to do such testing and I don't have that kind of money, and certainly tea processors don't want that info to be out in the real world and they won't pay for it. 

The fluoride content of tea from what I have read comes from the soils where the tea is grown.  Tea is big business and much of the big tea plantations use fluoride based pesticides to keep their crop safe.  Sigh, another instance of big business doing what they believe is good for them, and not what is good for those that consume their product.  I use the PAN a lot to look up info on toxicity of certain chemicals, you can see the list for fluoride  (HERE)  This is mostly about acute toxicity and doesn't address the problems with high chronic fluoride consumption, which causes brittle bones, aching joints, softening of the teeth in high concentrations and a myriad of other problems, ones that are just the opposite of why they put the stuff in our drinking water to begin with. 

Sigh, what a world we live in.