Herbal Green Tea Remedies Have Been Used for Thousands of Years

Everybody is talking about herbal remedies. Green teas or Herbal teas, created from natural plants, gifts from Mother Nature. But do they really have any abilities to heal or protect our bodies? This question has been receiving serious attention lately, and the scientific world is weighing in.
Almost everyone is aware of the value of green teas for beneficial anti oxidants, and flavenoid levels, which are in general "good" for you, but in what ways, other than an in general sense of well being and feeling good, do we actually see results that prove we have "benefited" from an herbal remedy? That is what science wants to know.

Persimmon Tree leaves in herbal Green tea? According to an article at Mother Nature To You, "You Betcha".
The persimmon trees leaves have received a lot of scientific attention lately. The persimmon leaf has been noted for its use as an herbal remedy in China, Japan and Korea, for thousands of years, to brew a body beneficial tea.
Cultures from various parts of the world, across the test of time, cultural and geographical borders, have used persimmon to treat a number of ills. Like many of the natural herbal remedies nature provides us, persimmon leaves can be beneficial as a preventative to illness, by strengthening our bodies natural defenses. According to this article,
Scientists believe that the rich fiber and phenolic content of persimmon leaves, which are commonly used to make tea in India, increases the amount of lipids removed from the body as feces. "Since the persimmon leaves have beneficial effects on hemostatsis, constipation, hypertension, apoplexy, and atherosclerosis, they have been broadly applied in food and medicine," says J Lee, from the Ottogi Research Center in Kyonngi-do, The Republic of Korea and colleagues.

As a cancer survivor myself I can attest to this quality. During cancer treatment constipation is a constant problem, often due to pain management medications. Most patients will tell you they used laxatives everyday, often with limited success. I drank my herbal tea daily, and was never constipated, and took no laxatives.

The same study further explains that "To investigate if the leaves also improved metabolism and lipid levels, the team fed three groups of rats either a normal control, high-fat, or high-fat with powdered whole persimmon leaf diet, for 6 weeks. Eating the high-fat diet without persimmon leaves increased the rats' body weight by an average 114% in comparison with those fed the normal control diet. However, rats eating the persimmon leaf supplemented high-fat diet had a final body weight similar to that of the normal control group after 6 weeks. "Thus indicating that persimmon leaf supplementation suppressed the excess body weight gain that could be induced by high-fat feeding," say the authors in the journal Food and Chemical Toxicology. They added that these rats gained less weight because persimmon leaf consumption suppressed their food intake, perhaps via the hormone leptin, levels of which were higher in the leaf-supplemented group than the high-fat only group.
Another study concluded that Compared to other teas, persimmon leaf tea contains a higher level of health and nutritional benefits. Analysis has shown persimmon leaf tea contains up to 10 times the amount of Vitamin C, tannins, flavonoids, rutin, choline and essential amino acid. Compared to other fruits and vegetables.

Another Herb used in many herbal green tea remedies is the very well known St. John's Wort. According to one article on WebMd St. John's Wort has been used as an herbal remedy, with medical purposes in other parts of the world for thousands of years. Today, St. John's wort is continually being studied to try to validate its alleged mood-improving benefits(http://www.webmd.com/depression/guide/st-johns-wort) this particular herb is perhaps more studied than any other over the past two decades, "More than 30 clinical studies have been conducted over the past 22 years to evaluate the effectiveness of St. John's wort".

Stevia is another herb discussed in depth at Mother Nature to You. The media has really hyped up public interest and awareness regarding this native of Paraguay and areas of South America. Stevia is estimated to be 30x sweeter than sugar, has zero calories, and does not promote tooth decay, and does not affect blood glucose levels of diabetics either. As a matter of fact it is now believed that Stevia has another benefit that makes it a wonderful addition to all green herbal teas. According to studies discussed by diabetes experts stevia also has the ability to help the body process sugars. The article states that "Rather than raise blood sugar like most other natural sweeteners, stevia actually lowers it. Research from the Journal of Phytomedicine shows that stevia helps control blood glucose and promotes insulin creation. Results of the study (which was performed on type 2 diabetic rats) led the researchers at the time to conclude that the plant extract stevioside may potentially be used as a new anti-diabetic medication for type 2 diabetes". Stevia is not just a no cal no tooth rot sweetener either, it does have other positive aspects as well.The plants leaves contain vitamin A and C, as well as proteins, carbohydrates, iron, potassium, zinc, calcium, magnesium. In Japan and Europe Stevia is a listed ingredient in many mouthwashes, as it has antibacterial qualities and actually promotes a healthy mouth environment.

These are just a few popular herbal green tea ingredients used in herbal remedies that have found support from the scientific community, and the list grows larger over time. Mints, honeysuckle, chamomile and hundreds of others gain validation with each successful study. Judge for yourself is the best advice that can be given, but I would certainly keep in mind that when you see pill forms of natural elements crowding the store shelves is that not proof enough that the "natural" herbal remedy in its traditional tea form worked?

Sources:
http://www.webmd.com/depression/guide/st-johns-wort
http://www.healingdaily.com/detoxification-diet/sugar.htm
http://www.mothernaturetoyouherbalgreenteas.com/do-herbal-remedies-work.php
http://www.lipidsonline.org/news/article.cfm?aid=4003