White tea is an age-old elixir that has been forgotten with the rise of pharmaceuticals, and yet it is one of the most powerful natural anti-inflammatories around, say researchers from Kingston University in London. 
White tea was the most powerful of 21 herbal concoctions that the researchers tested on human skin cells to discover their ability to suppress problamatic agents that play a key role in inflammation, linked to cancer, heart disease and arthritis.
White tea is made from immature tea leaves that are picked before the buds have fully opened. The tea leaves are so close to their natural state it allows for white tea to contain more polyphenols, the powerful anti-oxidant that fights and kills cancer-causing cells.
“It appears that drinking a simple cup of white tea might well help reduce an individual’s risk of cancer, rheumatoid arthritis or even just age-associated wrinkles,” says lead researcher Professor Declan Naughton. (Journal of Inflammation, 2011; 8:27)
