Enjoy your cup of tea and feel the health benefits too
To celebrate National Tea Week, we take a look at the nutritional benefits of the drink in an attempt to encourage you to drink more of the purse-friendly beverage.
It has been drunk in ancient China for thousands of years. It spread to Japan around 805 AD and to other parts of the Orient, but did not reach Europe until 1610, when the Dutch East India Company imported samples to Holland.
Since then, tea has become one of the world's favourite hot drinks.
It's been found that the overall antioxidant power of black tea is the same as the green option. But green tea does have ECGC, a powerful antioxidant that has been referred to as 'special'.
A recent Japanese study on green tea found that men who drank green tea regularly had lower cholesterol than those who didn't. Researchers in Spain and the United Kingdom have also shown that ECGC can inhibit the growth of cancer cells. For a double health whammy, replace sugary sodas with tea.
Green tea and black tea both come from the same plant called Camellia sinensis. Black tea is made when the leaves are allowed to ferment. Green tea leaves are steamed or heated immediately after picking to prevent fermentation. Since they're harvested and processed more quickly, they contain more of the polyphenols than black tea leaves. Both types of tea contain caffeine, but not as much as a cup of coffee. You can usually find decaffeinated forms of green tea if you prefer.
There is solid evidence that tea consumption is associated with a lowered risk of heart disease and stroke.
Tea also seems to have a positive effect on your dental health. Drinking tea lowers your risk of developing cavities as well as gum disease.
You can also improve your bone health by drinking tea. Studies that focused on the risk of hip fracture founf that habitual tea consumption, especially when maintained for more than ten years, has been shown to have a significant benefit to bone-mineral density.
Overall, as well as getting multiple health benefits from your cup of tea, you also get the wind-down satisfaction of enjoying your cup of tea.
Tagged in Health Nutrition Diet Healthy eating Super Food