Peppermint is an excellent source of manganese, vitamin C and vitamin A, carotenoids, and beta-carotene. Vitamin C, the main water-soluble antioxidant in the body is needed to decrease levels of free radicals that can cause damage to cells and decrease the risk of cancer. Peppermint is probably most famous for its use in our favorite white and red candy at Christmas time but it is gaining popularity to drink in teas to help decrease nausea.

A cup of fresh mint tea can help to soothe your stomach. If you are nauseous from cancer treatments try drinking peppermint tea. Another useful thing I found to work is to keep a small bottle of peppermint oil in your pocket and rub it on your wrist for smelling when you feel the queasy stomach coming on.

Whenever possible, choose fresh mint over the dried form of the herb since it is superior in flavor. The leaves of fresh mint should look vibrant and be a rich green color. They should be free from dark spots or yellowing. To store fresh mint leaves, carefully wrap them in a damp paper towel and place inside of a loosely closed plastic bag. Store in the refrigerator, where it should keep fresh for several days.

Recipe for a perfect cup of peppermint tea.
1 ounce fresh peppermint leaves
1 pint boiling water
Honey

Place the peppermint leaves in a cup and pour in boiling water. Cover the cup with a saucer and let it stand for 10 minutes. Scoop out the leaves with a spoon and add a little honey if you like it sweet.

Those who drink one or two cups of tea daily may have a lower risk of developing two types of skin cancer by 20 to 30 percent. In a study conducted on nearly 2,200 adults, researchers found that tea drinkers had a lower risk of developing squamous cell and basal cell carcinoma, the two most common forms of skin cancer.

The findings were published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.

Tea drinking did not show any effect on the worst skin cancer, melanoma. Still, the findings support the theory that tea antioxidants may limit the damage UV radiation inflicts on the skin, according to the study authors, led by Dr. Judy R. Rees of Dartmouth Medical School in Lebanon, New Hampshire.

The researchers do warn that it is not okay to bake in the sun and then have a cup of tea afterwards.

The study did not mention what specific types of teas might be more beneficial than others.

Don't give up that daily cup of coffee just yet. Studies show drinking coffee may reduce your risk of developing Parkinson's disease, diabetes, cirrhosis of the liver, and colon cancer. It's even been linked to a decreased risk of inflammatory and cardiovascular disease in postmenopausal women.

Why? According to an article in the March 2007 issue of Ladies Home Journal, it's because coffee contains large amounts of flavonoids and antioxidants -- and these combat a whole bunch of illnesses.

Now drinking too much coffee can have adverse side effects, like restlessness, anxiety, and headaches, but limiting yourself to one to four brewed cups per day seems to be a safe practice. Although for those with high blood pressure, consuming between two to four cups per day maybe a bit risky because coffee causes blood pressure to rise immediately after consumption. And all coffee drinkers should fight the urge to add sugar, flavored syrup, and whole milk to to their beverages.

A daily cup of tea seems to be healthy too. Researchers are investigating its use in the prevention of cancer, and we already know both black and green tea have significant quantities of disease-fighting flavonoids -- although not as much as coffee.

Luanne Austin says chemotherapy is not all it's cracked up to be. She doesn't mean it's cracked up to be something really great but is far from such a thing. She means it's cracked up to be something pretty horrible but is really not all that bad.

Austin says the day her doctor announced she would receive chemotherapy was almost as bad as the day she learned she had breast cancer. That's because she had heard nothing but bad things about the treatment. She expected to be laying in bed with her life in the balance -- nauseated, vomiting, sick -- as the "cure" killed her.

All expectations aside, Austin decided to tackle chemotherapy with a positive attitude. This may seem a daunting task -- turning a dreaded chemotherapy protocol into a not-so-bad experience -- but Austin mastered the task. And here are seven of her positive thoughts about a treatment that is not all it's cracked up to be.

• Austin talked to people who had traveled journeys similar to hers. What she learned is that many women continued working through treatment. Some suffered very few side effects. One woman even told Austin her experience was super. Austin was inspired by the positive women she tracked down. And now she inspires others.
  

• Austin did some reading. She learned that chemotherapy drugs target quickly-dividing cells, like cancer cells, red and white blood cells, blood platelets, and digestive tract cells. Learning about the process helped her realize chemotherapy was intended to make her well, not make her suffer.

• Austin learned how to support her body through treatment. She came to understand that the best chance of surviving breast cancer comes from conventional medicine -- surgery, chemotherapy, radiation -- but that alternative treatments can complement the traditional approach. She recommends the book Breast Cancer: Beyond Convention and considers her pursuit of a healthy diet, exercise, supplements, and a good night's sleep some of her most helpful chemotherapy add-ons.

• When Austin felt weak, tired, and just plain zoned out, she retreated to her bed with a good book and a cup of tea. Instead of considering it a setback, she called this downtime a good excuse to spend hours reading.

• Austin found relief from her nurses. They were terrific, she recalls, and professional and friendly and respectful too. Getting to know her medical crew -- and receiving hugs from them at the end of her treatment -- confirmed chemotherapy has some good points.

• For Austin, God -- who carried her through her whole journey -- was instrumental in her positive outlook. She felt lifted up and carried, she says.

• And then there's love -- pure and simple love from her husband and family members -- that allows her to conclude that chemotherapy is not so bad. "I'd have to say chemotherapy hasn't been all that bad," she says. "Not bad at all."
  

Bubble bubble boil and trouble, look what the soft drink industry scientists have conjoured up as a way to boost the sagging sales of the sugary calorie-laden beverages an emerging weight conscious nation has begun to reject in favor of healthier choices in quenching thirst.

Hoping to appeal to the battle-of-the-bulge crowd and school administrators looking to ban soft drinks from school vending machines, beverage makers like Coca-Cola, Nestle, Snapple and Celsius are hoping consumers will be drawn to try drinks said to boost metabolism and burn up to a 100 calories per drink. Made with green tea and caffeine, the new product does not come cheap. A four-pack of Celsius costs $6.99, according to the price quoted in the LA Times New soft drinks claim to speed up metabolism.

Granted, based on previous research findings, the antioxidant epigallo catechin gallate (EGCG) found in green tea holds some promise in cancer prevention, but loose-leaf green tea is far less expensive than the new soft drinks being marketed as a replacement to obesity-inducing soft drinks. The new drinks are also causing some scientific eyebrow raising as to the true weight loss the consumer might realistically expect to experience.

I am not against healthier drinks, but in this case, it seems as if the simple exercise of moving more, eating less and drinking eight ounces of water a day might be as effective, if not more effective, in maintaining a healthy weight. For the antioxidant benefit of EGCG, a cup or two of green tea. I could be wrong about the new soft drinks, but at this point in time, I remain hesitant to embrace negative-calorie magic bullets.

I am curious: Will you try the new drinks? Do you think they are worth the price?

This is a bummer. I have been diligently drinking my green tea thinking it can maybe be of some use. According to an article recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, consumption of green tea does not appear to have an effect on cancer mortality.

On the flip side, green tea seems to reduce the risk of overall death and death due to cardiovascular disease.

Researchers from Japan followed patients from the Ohsaki National Health Insurance Cohort Study. It included 40,530 adults between the ages of 40 to 79 years. The participants had not been diagnosed with cancer, stroke and heart disease when the study began.

The study showed that the consumption of green tea had no effect on cancer mortality among these patients. It was good news that it did help those with cardiovascular disease.

I have heard so much about green tea and the antioxidants that I would really like to read more studies to see if maybe it can be of benefit. I still like green tea and will continue to drink it because tea is one of my favorite things.

I have a cabinet full of supplements I've never taken. I've never been convinced they will do much for me -- other than add an easy-to-forget routine to my day -- and doctors have typically advised me that a healthy diet will deliver just about everything I need for optimal functioning. I still wonder sometimes if I get enough calcium and at times I have taken iron supplements when doctors have determined I lacked appropriate iron levels. But I have never wondered about all the other pills and powders and liquids that claim to promote health -- and sometimes prevent cancer. And after reading a recap of a study in the September 2006 Oprah magazine, I am further convinced that supplements are just not for me.

A report from ConsumerLab.com (CL), a company that tests and certifies supplements, suggests that some people might be ingesting too much lead as they try to keep cancer at bay. CL randomly selected various green tea preparations from store shelves, websites, and direct marketers and found that two out of four contained what is considered unacceptable levels of lead. Green tea products they recommend avoiding are Futurebiotics Premium Extract Standardized Green Tea tablets and Herbal Select Standardized Green Tea Extract. Products found to be totally free of lead are Life Extension Mega Green Tea Extract, Nature's Bounty Green Tea Extract, Pharmanex Tegreen 97, and Puritan's Pride Green Tea Extract.

Experts believe that some supplements may help prevent cancer. But most testing is done on food so we can't be entirely sure about the safety of supplements. Their advice is this -- make a change through a healthy diet rather than supplements. This is just what I plan to do.

Yesterday, we featured Antioxidant supplements: cancer prevention fairy tale or fact? posting on an opinion piece Dr. Lisa Melton wrote concluding that something is lost in the extraction process of antioxidants into supplement form that prevents antioxidant supplements from offering much in the way of health value. That antioxidant-rich foods offer a health benefit is not in question, and continuing research indicates that what you choose to eat can give your body a boost to better health.

While the researchers sort out the antioxidant supplement debate, and before your next trip to the grocery store, UPI issued a press release today announcing the results of a newly published study that ranks the concentrated antioxidant value per serving of 1,113 foods and beverages.

Topping the list? Per serving -- one cup of blackberries, eight-ounce serving of Welch's 100 percent Grape Juice, one cup of Ocean Mist artichoke hearts, one-ounce of walnuts and one cup of strawberries. Interesting to note, according to the researchers from the University of Oslo, Norway, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and the University of Minnesota, the top five outranked the traditionally considered powerhouses of antioxidant foods and beverages including blueberries, red wine, chocolate, coffee and tea. Stiil powerhouse antioxidant foods in their own right -- just did not make the top five in this study.

During the 52nd Summer Fancy Food Show, visitors will be able to sample a new green tea drink aimed at cancer prevention. In addition, Dr. Lee will present scientific evidence that his organic green tea drink TeaforHealth is the only green tea product to be able to make a qualified health claim regarding its anti-cancer benefits by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) -- based on the de facto standard recommended by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) for effectiveness against cancer -- in a demonstration and talk called Green Tea as Medicine to Fight Cancer, at the International Union Against Cancer quadrennial World Cancer Congress, on July 10, 2006 in Washington, D.C.

According to company claims, Dr. Lee's TeaForHealth organic green teas are packaged to preserve the maximum level of the tea's EGCG antioxidants, and independently lab tested to meet the NCI specification.

I live in the southeast where good old cold sweet tea is the number one drink of choice. But after finding out how much healthier green tea is versus normal brewed tea, the choice was easy for me to make. There are many benefits of drinking green tea. Green Tea reduces high blood pressure, lowers blood sugar, fights cancer, boosts the immune system because of its high concentrations of polyphenols and flavenoids and it has been shown to lower cholesterol because of the antioxidants. It also helps to burns fat naturally and increases metabolism.

Antioxidants found in green tea, are at least 100 more times more effective than vitamin C and 25 times more effective than vitamin E at protecting cells and DNA from damage believed to be linked to cancer, heart disease and other serious illnesses. Unfermented green tea leaves are the least processed form of tea. Drinking green tea from 100% quality tea leaves is the most natural way to gain these health benefits.

For those of you in the south that just crave your favorite sweet cold beverage, try brewing some green tea and chilling it in the fridge and then adding a tiny pinch of stevia to sweeten it naturally. The health benefits are well worth it.

In the phenomenal bestseller Foods That Fight Cancer: Preventing Cancer Through Diet, written by Montreal biochemist Richard Beliveau with fellow scientist Denis Gingras, the authors refer to fruits and vegetables as a preventative non-toxic version of chemotherapy.

Originally published in French, the book has recently been translated into English. Based on scientific studies in food chemistry, the book's two main goals are to educate people about what cancer is -- and how to eat for cancer prevention.

Beliveau explains in layman's terms how cancer develops, how it takes years for cancer to develop, how tumors form spontaneously, and how most cancers remain insignificant. He says, "Preventing cancer is destroying these microtumors and blocking them from reaching a stage where they become clinically relevant." There are foods with the biochemical capacity to block some cancers. He wants the reader to realize that we cannot eat as badly as we do and expect medicine to come up with a miracle pill when something goes wrong.

Following is an excerpt of some of the information the reader will find in Foods That Fight Cancer: Preventing Cancer Through Diet:

Dr. Heidi Lucas, of the Seattle Cancer Treatment and Wellness Center, recently interviewed on nutrition and cancer treatment, gives these tips on cancer-fighting foods and diet strategies for maintaining health while going through cancer treatment and for cancer prevention.

• Edamame is a great whole food protein. She does not recommend cancer patients with estrogen-positive cancer consume soy powder and soy supplements.
• Green tea is recommended for cancer recovery and cancer prevention. She recommends drinking loose leaf green tea and green tea in supplements to all cancer patients.
• Protein smoothie is recommended as a daily drink. Using whey protein powder, add ice cubes, milk -- soymilk or juice, tablespoon of ground flaxseeds and a handful of frozen or fresh berries. Additional sources of protein include lentils, beans and nuts -- or chicken and fish. Nuts to include in the daily diet are Brazil nuts, almonds and walnuts.
• Choose whole organic fresh food whenever possible.
  

During the interview, Dr. Lucas explained the importance of modifying blood sugar and getting refined carbohydrates out of the diet. "Cancer cells have high metabolic rates and thrive on glucose. Glucose is the favorite food of cancer cells. When someone gets a PET scan, the technicians put a radioactive tracer on glucose cells to see where they go. Where the glucose goes, that's where the cancer is found."

Sound advice. The Seattle Cancer Treatment and Wellness Center is the only cancer center in the Northwest where medical oncologists and natural medicine practitioners work as a team. Bob Condor, who conducted the interview, is the editor of Seattle Conscious Choice, which covers health, environment, food, social good, spirituality and personal growth. 

The Asian paradox is a reference to the fact that although more people smoke more cigarettes in Asia, they are diagnosed with cancer in far fewer numbers than would be expected.

Researchers keep going back to green tea as the possible preventative to cancer, as the incidence of cancers is much lower in Asia compared to other countries. Yale School of Medicine researchers reviewed 100 experimental and clinical studies and found that drinking green tea might indeed be the reason in the lower incidence of cancer.

According to the researchers, the average 2.5 pints of green tea consumed daily by many people in Asia offers the antioxidant protective effects of the polyphenolic EGCG, which has been shown to play a key role in the prevention of tumor growth.

I think too, there is a synergy to the diet as a whole that researchers might not have discovered that plays a role in offering cancer prevention. In my personal opinion, I don't think it will be one food or liquid that will be the reason. The Asian diet pyramid is second in health only to the Mediterranean diet pyramid.

Here is a charming way to spend a summer afternoon. As part of Wyevale Garden Centres commitment to raising money for Breast Cancer Care, the garden center will be hosting the Strawberry Tea Fortnight. The tea is timed to take place during the Wimbledon tennis tournament. If you live in Britain, and would like to attend or host a Strawberry Tea, Breast Cancer Care will provide you with a packet of information containing recipes, fundraising tips, stickers and more to make your tea a success.

But what if you live half-way around the world and think an afternoon tea shared with friends, family, co-workers or classmates to raise money for breast cancer is a very lovely idea? The Breast Cancer Care offers some ideas to help you get started planning a Strawberry Tea of your own.

• Plan an afternoon tea party with strawberry cakes and tea.
• Get together after work to enjoy strawberries and cream and a glass of champagne.
• Throw a Wimbledon-themed party in the garden for your friends and family.
• Get your friends together for a picnic and fun tennis tournament.
  

Not into tennis but love tea? Create a theme of your own built around an event that is normally celebrated by family, friends and co-workers. In the United States, tea time is not a mainstream activity, but I think we could all use a little more time to stop and enjoy the company of the people in our lives -- and an afternoon tea seems a splendid way to do it.

Of the cancer charity fundraisers, Australia's Biggest Morning Tea is the most charming -- and one of the most successful. Last year, Australia's Biggest Morning Tea raised $7.2 million dollars Australia-wide for Cancer Council Australia. The event also made it into the Guinness Book of Records for the World's Largest Simultaneous Tea Party.

Officially, the date of the tea is May 25, but it can be held any day during the month of May. According to the organizers, people in workplaces, homes, schools and community groups in towns and cities across Australia participate in Australia's Biggest Morning Tea. It's easy to participate. You simply contact the organization, state your interest in holding a tea, submit your contact information, and they send you a packet of information and a kit to get you set up to host a tea. The tea can be hosted anywhere. In your home, at your place of work, in the park, at the beach.

The Cancer Council is Australia's national non-government cancer control organization. The  organization offers patient support, works to improve treatments, acts as an advocate for cancer patients, provides information and funds research. As Australia's Biggest Morning Tea says about the tea time event, "Everyone loves a break: the chance to spend time with family, friends or colleagues. Once a year, having a break also helps in the fight against a disease that affects 1 in 3 Australians: Cancer." The idea of a tea just brings a smile.