White tea is a rare tea produced almost exclusively in China and comes from the same plant (Camellia sinensis) as green and black teas. The descriptive term "white" comes from the high proportion of silvery buds on the plants, which impart a silvery color to the tea. White tea is the least processed of all teas, as it is picked then rapidly steamed and dried rather than fermented or roasted. Researchers believe this minimal processing of white tea yields a higher concentration of polyphenol antioxidants. White tea, in particular, offers high ORAC value.
White tea's primary benefit is as an antioxidant, squelching free radicals. Cancer risk is associated with free radical damage, and it is estimated that a deficient diet may account for as much as 35% of all human cancers. Researchers from the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University (Corvallis, Ore.) have tested white tea's ability to protect bacteria from DNA damage and found white tea to be a much more powerful antimutagen than green tea.1 In additional studies at the Institute, rats fed white tea over an eight-week period, then exposed to the carcinogen PhIP, had significantly fewer PhIP-induced pre-cancerous lesions in the colon than the control.2 Both white tea and epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), which is found in high concentrations in white tea, have been shown to inhibit beta-catenin/Tcf activity. Beta-catenin and Tcf-4 are involved in the development of colorectal tumors.3