I just thought I'd include those links because they might include something people didn't know about tea.

What I was trying to get at is, folk remedies are often dismissed as unworthy of study because they are folk remedies, and must therefore be a lot of garbage.

I'm very happy to see any scientist take the claims of an alternative medicine's users seriously enough to study. It benefits both science and the medicine's users. If it's shown to be effective, good. If not, there will continue to be people who will use it because it was good enough for Granny, but there will be others who will look at it more carefully.

Also, it will help GPs, who have to deal with the things that people use regardless of whether they are approved or even known by the FDA. Consider the people who use St. John's wort for depression. Harmless palliative? No: it interacts with other substances.

While there's a lot of superstition out there, and a lot of bad and fraudulant "science", there's also a good bit of scientific snobbery on the other side, which considers traditional anything as beneath consideration. That attitude doesn't help to advance scientific education.

To use the rule of argument in our house, one is not allowed to say, "That sucks." One is allowed to say, "That sucks, because [insert compelling argument with evidence here]."