Garnishing favor When it comes to green tea's health benefits, I always assumed it was best to be a "purist" and to drink it without any of the bells and whistles many people add to their hot beverages. But I was wrong (not the first time, and very likely not the last). It turns out that those lemon wedges that come alongside tea in restaurants and coffee shops do more than just garnish your cup. Researchers from Purdue University found that lemon juice literally makes green tea better for you by helping the tea retain more of it's antioxidants through the digestive process. Normally, only about 20 percent of these antioxidants, called catechins, remain after tea has made its way through the intestines. But when they added lemon juice to the tea, the researchers found that 80 percent of the catechins remained after digestion. And if you get bored with lemon-flavored tea, they also discovered that orange, lime, and grapefruit juices also have catechin-protecting abilities (although less than that found with lemon). Source:
"Citrus juice, vitamin C give staying power to green tea antioxidants," Science Daily (www.sciencedaily.com), 11/14/07 | 
