TEA MAGIC
Tea
is officially awesome for your health. But make sure that your “tea” is
actually tea. Real tea is derived from a particular plant (Camellia sinensis)
and includes only four varieties: green, black, white, and oolong. Anything
else (like herbal “tea”) is an infusion of a different plant and isn’t
technically tea.
But
what real tea lacks in variety, it makes up for with some serious health benefits.
Researchers attribute tea’s health properties to polyphenols (a type of antioxidant)
and phytochemicals. Though most studies have focused
on the better-known green and black teas, white and oolong also bring benefits
to the table. Read on to find out why tea rocks your health.
1.
Tea can boost exercise endurance.
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.
2.
Drinking tea could help reduce the
risk of heart attack. Tea might also help protect against cardiovascular and degenerative diseases.
3.
The antioxidants in tea might help
protect against a boatload of cancers,
including breast, colon, colorectal,
skin, lung, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, pancreas,
liver,
ovarian,
prostate
and oral cancers.
But don’t rely solely on tea to keep a healthy body — tea is not a miracle
cure,
after all. While more studies than not suggest that tea have cancer-fighting
benefits, the current research is mixed.
4.
Tea helps fight free radicals. 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.
While our bodies are designed to fight free radicals on their own, they’re not
100 percent effective — and since damage from these radical oxygen ninjas has
been linked to cancer, heart disease and neurological degeneration, we’ll take
all the help we can get.
6.
Drinking tea is linked with a lower
risk of Parkinson’s disease. 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.
7.
Tea 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.
8.
Tea could 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. Scientists speculate that regular tea drinking
lowers the risk of metabolic syndrome (which increases the risk of
diabetes, artery disease and stroke), although it’s important to remember that correlation does not equal causation.
9.
Regular tea drinking might
also counteract some of the negative effects of smoking
and might even lessen the risk of lung cancer (good news, obviously, but not a
justification for cigs).
10.
Tea could be beneficial to people
with Type 2 diabetes. Studies suggest that compounds in green tea could help diabetics better process sugars.
11.
Tea can help the body recover from
radiation. 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.
12.
Green tea has been found to improve
bone mineral density and strength.
13.
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.
14.
For weight loss benefits, take
organic oolong tea.
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