It’s the most popular hot drink in the world. With half as much caffeine on average as coffee, tea offers a refreshing pick-me-up without giving you the jitters. But drinking tea is far more than just a civilized habit, it could actually be a lifesaving one. Researchers have found that tea drinkers may have a lower risk of heart disease, stroke, cancer, and – oddly – even tooth decay
What’s it good for?
- athlete’s foot
- diarrhoea
- fever
- foot odour
- gum problems
- haemorrhoids
- headache
- itching
- mouth ulcers
- sunburn
- toothache
In the early 1990s, researchers noted that Japanese women who practiced the art of chanoyu, the traditional tea ceremony, had much lower morality rates than other women. It didn’t take scientists long to work out that the chemical compounds in tea – mainly polyphenols, which make up nearly 30 per cent of tea’s dry weight – are among the most potent antioxidants ever discovered. Antioxidants are chemicals that block the effects of free radicals, the rough oxygen molecules that damage cells throughout the body and increase the risk of serious diseases such as cancer.
Incidentally, don’t confuse herbal teas such as camomile with real tea that comes from Camellia sinensis, the tea plant. The green tea popular in Asian countries is simply the steamed and dried leaves of this plant. The everyday tea we drink here, properly called black tea, undergoes a process of fermentation that gives it a stronger flavour and darker colour – and may reduce its levels of health-protective chemical compounds.
Brew some cancer preventions?
Tea has long been recognized in the laboratory as an antioxidant, but study results involving humans have been contradictory. Some epidemiological studies, comparing people who drink tea with those who don’t, claim that drinking tea prevents cancer; others don’t. There have been more studies based on drinking green tea. So the evidence to date is better for green. Studies in China, for example, showed that regular consumption of green tea significantly reduced the risk of stomach and oesphageal cancer. However, a study in the Netherlands found no link between tea consumption and protection against cancer. Because the production process reduces the amounts of antioxidants in black tea, it seems likely that green tea is a more powerful cancer-fighter than black tea, although both teas offer protective benefits.
Green tea high in substances known as catechins. These are potent antioxidants – 100 times more powerful than vitamin C – that appear to protect DNA in cells from cancer-including changes. Black tea also contains catechins but in much smaller amounts.
