Karen Pijuan

You have probably heard about the health benefits of drinking tea, especially green tea. Tea has been known around the world for thousands of years as the "longevity" beverage. Tea has been drunk in China since at least 3000 BCE. Tea is part of the Camellia Sinensis plant, and comes as black tea, which is fully oxidized, green tea, which is un-oxidized, and oolong, which is partially oxidized.

Believe it or not, conventional, petrochemical-based cleaning products are major contributors to the toxicity of your home. They are the only household products that are regulated under the 1960 Federal Hazardous Substances Labeling Act. In addition, it is difficult to determine exactly how hazardous cleaning products are, since manufacturers are not required to disclose ingredients.

It probably is. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that the air in our homes and offices is two to five times more polluted than the outdoor air. The EPA has ranked indoor air pollution as a high priority public health risk. The World Health Organization and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute have also concluded that preventing exposure to environmental allergens and irritants may help prevent asthma.

Although many can benefit from a good air purifier, since most of us are exposed to both indoor and outdoor air that is polluted, if you have children, or are elderly, have asthma or other respiratory problems, allergies, cardiovascular disease or chemical sensitivities, you will especially benefits from breathing cleaner air in your home. However, selecting a good air purifier is not easy.

There was a recent article in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) that concluded that taking antioxidants actually increased your risk of death, instead of making you healthier. This was reported in the Washington Post, without proper explanation of the JAMA article and its conclusions. It is true that studies, including the ones that JAMA referred to, show that antioxidants do NOT help users live longer.