A review of latest research findings on the health promotion properties of tea.

Important progress has been made in the past five years concerning the effects of green and black tea on health. Experimentation with new accurate tools provide useful information about the metabolism of tea components in the body, their mode of action as antioxidants at the cellular level and their protective role in the development of cancer, cardiovascular disease and other pathologies. The use of tea components as nutraceuticals and functional foods are also discussed.