Tea & Health

While tea is best known as a refreshing drink, it has in fact numerous properties that prove beneficial to human health. Studies conducted on tea have found it to contain many compounds, including the amino acid – theanine, which is unique to the tea tree. Tea has also displayed anti-carcinogenic, anti-bacterial, cholesterol lowering, and anti-diabetic effects. In addition this invigorating drink has been found to reduce hypertension. Besides the tea leaves, the roots and seeds of this tree have also been found to contain compounds that could be used for diverse purposes such as the production of food dyes, cosmetics, and herbal shampoos.

Experiments have proved that organic tea may indeed have medicinal properties, if not mystical ones. The tea plant, Camellia Sinensis, is rich in a broad class of chemicals found in fruits and vegetables, called poly phenols, that may help fend off cancer and heart disease. Research conducted in Netherlands determined that healthy seniors got 61% of their poly phenols from black tea. Chemical structure of poly phenols is similar to chemical compounds in many fruits and other produce that have been found to tie up unstable oxygen molecules, or free radicals.

Other experiments explain the apparent links between tea and good health observed in Asia. Japanese who drink more then 10 cups a day, have lower rates of stomach cancer than those who drink fewer than 10 cups. And, compared to Americans the Japanese are heavy smokers, yet they have lower rates of lung cancer.

Tea also appears to slow absorption of some vitamins and minerals, particularly iron and calcium. Tea also contains caffeine about half as much as coffee per cup and can create the same jitteriness, and withdrawal headaches as coffee if drunk compulsively.

TEA and Heart Disease

Human epistemology and animal studies suggest that tea drinking may reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. It also reduced the animals blood cholesterol as well as the concentrations of low density lipoprotein. A diet with regular intake of green tea catechin control high blood pressure in humans. A greater consumption of green tea was linked to a lower total concentration of cholesterol in the blood.

TEA and Cancer

In a study conducted in Japan, the frequency of stomach cancer was lower in people who drank 10 or more cups of green tea daily. In a chinese study the consumption of green tea appeared to cut the risk of esophageal cancer.

Black, green, and oolong teas have also been found to reduce instance of tumors of stomach and intestine in rat.The popular Black tea and green tea leaf appears to induce liver enzymes called the cytochrome. Studies have also found that tea can inhibit the formation of nitrosamines, a group of highly active molecules that can cause mutation in DNA of cells.

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