Healthy Food

Health Benefits of Drinking Tea

By ethnichealth

Posted on September 9, 2013

The question, Why you enjoy tea might have never popped up in your mind, while sipping it in front of a fire place in a cold winter morning .

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You might have several reasons for a sip. If you are not drinking tea yet, read upon these 10 ways does your body and then see if you are ready to change your Starbucks order! Studies have found that some teas may help with cancer, heart disease, and diabetes; encourage weight loss; lower cholesterol; and bring about mental alertness. Tea also appears to have antimicrobial qualities.

Black tea is a product made from the Camellia sinesis plant. The aged leaves and stems are used to make medicine. Green tea, which is made from fresh leaves of the same plant, has some different properties. Black tea is used for improving mental alertness as well as learning, memory and information processing skills.

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How is tea good for health?

It contains antioxidants which protect your body from the ravages of aging and the effects of pollution.
It has less caffeine than coffee. An eight-ounce cup of coffee contains around 135 mg caffeine; tea contains only 30 to 40 mg per cup. If drinking coffee gives you the jitters, causes indigestion or headaches or interferes with sleep — switch to tea.
It increases your metabolism. You could lose eight pounds just by drinking green tea. It has been shown to increase metabolic rate so that you can burn 70 to 80 additional calories by drinking just minute walk every day will also burn calories.
It doesn’t have any calories, unless you add sweetener or milk. If you are looking for a satisfying, calorie-free beverage tea is a top choice. Consuming even 250 fewer calories per day can result in losing one pound per week.
It helps keep you hydrated. The recent research has shown that the caffeine really doesn’t matter –tea and other caffeinated beverages definitely contribute to our fluid needs. But keep in your mind not to have more than five or six cups of caffeinated beverage at one time.
It bolsters your immune defenses. Tea may help your body’s immune system to fight off infection. When 21 volunteers drank either five cups of tea or coffee each day for four weeks, researchers saw higher immune system activity in the blood of the tea drinkers.
It may reduce your risk of heart attack and stroke. Unwanted blood clots formed from cholesterol and blood platelets cause heart attack and stroke. Drinking tea may help keep your arteries smooth and clog-free. A 5.6-year study from the Netherlands found a 70 percent lower risk of fatal heart attack in people who drank at least two to three cups of black tea daily compared to non-tea drinkers.
It protects against cancer. Thank the polyphenols, the antioxidants found in tea, once again for their cancer-fighting effects.
It protects your bones. One study that compared tea drinkers with non-drinkers, found that people who drank tea for 10 or more years had the strongest bones, even after adjusting for age, body weight, exercise, smoking and other risk factors.
It gives you a sweet smile. Tea itself actually contains fluoride and tannins that may keep plaque at bay. So add unsweetened tea drinking to your daily dental routine of brushing and flossing for healthier teeth and gums.

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Other effects

Scientists have found that the catechins (antioxidants) in green tea extract increase the body’s ability to burn fat as fuel, which accounts for improved muscle endurance.
Tea is high in oxygen radical absorbance capacity (“ORAC” to its friends), which is a fancy way of saying that it helps destroy free radicals (which can damage DNA) in the body.
When considered with other factors like smoking, physical activity, age and body mass index, regular tea drinking was associated with a lowered risk of Parkinson’s disease in both men and women.
It might provide protection from ultraviolet rays. We know it’s important to limit exposure to UV rays, and we all know what it’s like to feel the burn. The good news is that green tea may act as a back-up sunscreen.
Tea consumption keep waist circumference in check. In one study, participants who regularly consumed hot tea had lower waist circumference and lower BMI than non-consuming participants.
Tea could be beneficial to people with Type 2 diabetes. Studies suggest that compounds in green tea could help diabetics better process sugars.
One study found that tea helped protect against cellular degeneration upon exposure to radiation, while another found that tea can help skin bounce back postexposure.
Tea might be an effective agent in the prevention and treatment of neurological diseases, especially degenerative diseases (think Alzheimer’s). While many factors influence brain health, polyphenols in green tea may help maintain the parts of the brain that regulate learning and memory.

Bad Effects and Safe Zones

Black tea is safe for most adults. People who drink black tea or other caffeinated beverages all the time, especially in large amounts, can develop psychological dependence. Caffeine is probably safe in children in amounts commonly found in foods

Precautions & Warnings

Pregnancy and breast-feeding: Consuming more than 200 mg of caffeine during pregnancy has been linked to an increased risk of miscarriage and other negative effects, including symptoms of caffeine withdrawal in newborns and lower birth weight.
If you are breast-feeding, drinking more than 2 cups a day of black tea might cause your baby to become more irritable and have more bowel movements.

Use black tea with caution if you have anemia ,anxiety disorders ,bleeding, disorders, heart problems, diabetes, diarrhea, irritable bowel syndrome, glaucoma, cancer, fibroid, endometriosis ,high blood pressure ,and osteoporosis

Antibiotics (Quinolone antibiotics) interacts with BLACK TEA: Taking these antibiotics along with black tea can increase the risk of side effects including jitteriness, headache, increased heart rate, and other side effects.

Estrogens interacts with BLACK TEA: Intake of estrogen pills and drinking black tea can cause jitteriness, headache, fast heartbeat, and other side effects. If you take estrogen pills limit your caffeine intake.

Medications that slow blood clotting (Anticoagulant / Antiplatelet drugs) interacts with BLACK TEA: Having black tea along with medications that also slow clotting might increase the chances of bruising and bleeding. Eg: aspirin

Birth control pills (Contraceptive drugs) interacts with BLACK TEA: The body breaks down the caffeine in black tea to get rid of it. Birth control pills can decrease how quickly the body breaks down caffeine.

Medications for diabetes (Antidiabetes drugs) interacts with BLACK TEA: Black tea might increase blood sugar. Diabetes medications are used to lower blood sugar. By increasing blood sugar, black tea might decrease the effectiveness of diabetes medications

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Image courtesy: elena-romanova.ru , essentialbaby.com.au