It's an odd dynamic. While I believe eating healthy foods delays aging, battles disease, and provides a surprising amount of energy, I'm sometimes skeptical of studies touting the so-called superfoods.

My distrust is not derived from the inherent goodness of the food itself, but rather the research process that leads to the results. How do researchers know for sure that it's that single food that creates the benefits as opposed to the food in conjunction with a number of other foods or factors?That's why it's nice to have a personal story to share. I realize researchers would see it differently, but readers aren't researchers; they're normal people who place their trust in experts but gain comfort from reassurance.Think of it this way. Wouldn't you feel better about trying an experimental drug suggested by your doctor if your doctor revealed to you that it helped him defeat the disease you're battling?So here's a personal story that attests to the goodness of green tea.One summer morning years ago, I awoke with the symptoms that signal an eventual head cold or worse: a scratchy tickle in the back of my throat and a bit of congestion in my nose. What made this so worrisome is that I was leaving that morning for Fitchburg, Massachusetts for a four-day stage race.The entry fee was nonrefundable, the hotel accommodations expensive, and the competition topnotch. Now was not a good time to get sick.As I drove, my condition got worse. By the time I unpacked at the hotel, I considered taking the homeopathic cold medication I was carrying, but using that tended to increase nasal congestion temporarily.The first race was a 12-mile time trial the next morning. I couldn't afford to be congested.Possibly because I didn't know what else to do, I made a cup of decaffeinated green tea. (I generally avoid caffeine for four or five days before a major race to increase its effect the day of.) It seemed to help my throat, so I made another cup.And another. And another. And another. By the end of the night, I probably consumed 12 cups.The next morning, the tickle was gone, my nasal passages were cleared, and when I warmed up on the bike (after three cups of green tea with its natural caffeine), my legs had that jumpy, jitteriness that signaled that I was ready to ride. I rode well that day and exceptionally well two days later during the extremely hilly stage until I snapped my chain on the last climb and had to run with my bike up the last hill.For me, green tea was a godsend that weekend, so it's easy for me to believe the dozens of studies that have touted its goodness since then. And some of those studies have shown that drinking green tea lowers your bad cholesterol levels, improves heart health and makes you less likely to die from a heart attack, reduces the risk of certain cancers, Parkinson's disease, and the incidence of type 2 diabetes, and protects against weight gain.More recent studies have found drinking green tea to be especially helpful for older people.In 2012 the British Journal of Nutrition published research compiled at Duke University that found a significantly lower risk of dying among Chinese men from 65 to 84 who drank two to four cups per week as opposed to men who seldom drank green tea.Those who drank green tea daily had up to a 23 percent lowered risk.Women 65 to 84 in the study had 50 percent fewer incidents of cardiovascular disease, while men recorded a 37 percent decrease.In 2013, two separate studies linked green tea consumption with improved brain conditions. The study done at the University of Michigan determined that epigallocatechin-gallate, better known as EGCG, interferes with the formation of brain plaque that scientists believe leads to Alzheimer's disease. Another study published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry determined the same.The public seems to be attuned to the goodness of green tea, for sales of green tea, and all teas, are on the rise. According to a 2013 Tribune news report, U.S. sales reached $987 million in 2012, an increase of 32 percent since 2007.In fact, tea sales could possibly surpass coffee sales in the U.S. by 2017, according to industry panelists at the 2012 World Tea Expo.