These days there is a fair amount of empirical support for the contention that drinking green tea is a healthy habit, but it is only during the past several decades that any formal studies have been carried out on the subject.Scientific interest in the drink was triggered in the 1970s when Japanese researchers made the observation that the people in Shizuoka, Japan had a much lower incidence of stomach cancer than people in other parts of the country. Subsequent in-depth studies showed that the difference was not limited to stomach cancer; that the population of Shizuoka actually had much lower rates of all types of cancer. It did not take long for attention to focus on green tea as it was commonly known that more of the brew is consumed in Shizuoka than in any other part of Japan, or probably, of the world.Green tea and black tea are actually made from the same leaves but by different processes. Most tea-producing countries ferment their leaves to make either oolong or black tea. The Japanese do not ferment the tea leaves, but instead steam them right after they have been picked. The activity of the fermenting enzyme is thereby stopped, and the tea leaves retain their green color. This is also thought to perserve the beneficial chemical compounds contained in the leaf.