by J. Francis

Created on: June 15, 2009

Green Tea

I received an email recently giving me the opportunity to either accept, or reject an assignment to write an article on the, Calming Effects of Green Tea. With over a dozen other projects in the works I put it off for a couple of days so I could catch up on the work I already had. I also wanted time to do a little online research to see if it was something I was even interested in writing. But as sometimes happens (and more often than not lately) I waited too long, and someone else beat me to the punch. Lucky them.

However, not wanting to let 30 plus pages, (already printed out) of research go to waste, and having material on what appeared could be a very interesting article, I decided to write the following account, and post it for all to see.

GREEN TEA & THEANINE

Okay, I know what green tea is. But what is Theanine? (pronounced; tea-anene) To begin with it's an Amino Acid (Amino acids are critical to life, and play a variety of roles in metabolism. One particularly important function is as the building blocks of proteins,) that is found in all teas; as well as certain mushrooms, Boletus badius (I know what you're thinking, but these are edible mushrooms, the type you would feed to your family) and is what gives tea it's flavor. To quote Carolyn Pierini. "It is the predominant amino acid in green tea leaves, giving it it's characteristic umami, or 5th taste. Besides sweet, salty, acid, and bitter." (Carolyn Pierini, CLS (ASCP), Nutritional Consultant CNC, is a Clinical Laboratory Scientist who specializes in Medical Microbiology, the study of microorganisms and their relationship to your health.)

I'm sure if you're a tea drinker, you are aware of the calming affects tea has, as compared to that of an equal amount of coffee, that's because of the caffeine, even though they both contain caffeine, (coffee about 80 milligrams per 5 ounce cup, and green tea only 20 milligrams per 8 ounce cup, or one tea bag) tea also contains, Theanine, which counter acts the affects of the caffeine and produces that calming effect. But it doesn't stop there. According to Wikipedia: Theanine is related to glutamine, and can cross the blood-brain barrier. Because it can enter the brain, theanine has psychoactive properties. Theanine has been shown to reduce mental and physical stress, may produce feelings of relaxation, and improves cognition and mood, when taken in combination with caffeine.

I do like tea before

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