A-Z Guide to the Year in Medicine

(17 of 20)

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tea

TEA Curling up with a nice cup of hot tea can do your body a lot of good--at least if the tea you're drinking is chamomile. A British study of 14 tea lovers found that downing five cups of chamomile tea a day increases the body's levels of compounds that may boost the immune system and relieve muscle spasms like those that cause menstrual cramps. Drinking too much instant tea, on the other hand, can be harmful. A Washington University study reported that some brands of instant tea contained dangerous levels of fluoride--as much as 6.5 parts per million, well over the 4 p.p.m. that the EPA allows in drinking water. Ingesting high levels of fluoride can cause bone pain, bone spurs and fused vertebrae.

TEETH Here's an often overlooked aspect of prenatal care: Mom's dental health. A new study published in the Journal of Periodontology showed that pregnant women with high levels of an oral bacterium associated with cavities are at high risk for delivering preterm, low-weight babies. Doctors think problems occur because bacteria travel from the mouth to the uterus and interfere with pregnancy. One way to keep teeth strong is to watch what you drink--and how you drink it. Researchers writing in the journal General Dentistry reported that organic acids in sports beverages may cause irreversible damage to tooth enamel over time--damage 3 to 11 times as great as that caused by colas. They recommended minimizing the effect of the acids by chugging rather than sipping the drinks.