Recently the FDA denied a health claim for green tea.

Governmental health claims communicate information about reduction of disease state. Therefore to qualify for such a claim, the research must show disease reduction through epidemiological and clinical studies on the disease state.

While there is a great deal of evidence suggesting that dietary flavonoids, including those found in both green and black tea, contribute to cardiovascular health , what is currently missing from the literature is epidemiological research on green tea consumption in the US population and clinical human studies showing that drinking green tea reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease by reducing risk of specific measurable endpoints associated with the disease, such as lowering cholesterol or blood pressure. Read on...

Green Tea Cardiovascular Health Claim Petition May 22, 2006

This information is from the Specialty Tea Institute. What do you think?