Discussions of food normally were focussed on its nutritional conten and its flavor. Recently, however, more attention is being paid to the role of food in bio-regulating functions. Foods that possess this regulatory function are called "functional food." Dr. Inaba(#20) classifies food by function. If we classify green tea and green tea catechin according to this table, they possess the following functions : (1) bio-defensing function by preventing cancer through fortification of the immune system, (2) disease-preventing function by preventing high blood pressure or diabetes, (3) disease-recovery function by inhibiting the rise of cholesterol, (4) physical rhythm-controlling function by stimulating the central nervous system with caffeine and (5) aging-suppressing function by roviding the body with antioxidants. Green tea is, therefore, rich in ossibilities as a functional food and should prove a popular beverage mong the new health conscious generation.
Green tea, with its sweet aroma and eternally fresh taste, has been oved and continuously drunk since its introduction to Japan centuries ago. But modern research has finally started to remove the veil concealing some of its true power as a functional food. Green tea is truly a "miraculous medicine with an extraordinary power to prolong life.

(#2O) H. Inaba.Food Chemicals. 4 (No. 11,) 32 (1988)