The Health Benefits of Tea

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Ever since 4700 years ago since the legendary Shennong discovered tea, it was already speculated that tea had a healing effect on the body. A lot of people believe that tea can help treat abscesses, bladder ailments and lethargy among other illnesses. The bulk of the study on the link between health and tea has been on green tea. However, other types of tea like white, oolong, and black tea are also being studied.

Before we get ahead in the discussion, it must be clarified that all the benefits of tea are presumed as potential and not therapeutic claims. Tea has been studied to potentially stop or prevent some illnesses and not actually cure anything if we base it on the studies so far.

Cancer and Tea

Studies by the Journal of the National Cancer Institute on 1994 suggests that green tea drinking Chinese men and women are more likely not to have esophageal cancer by almost sixty percent.

The reason for this was probably because there is a substance in green tea that prevents cancer cells from growing. Researchers from the University of Perdue discovered that drinking green tea regularly lowers cholesterol levels, balancing out the good cholesterol from the bad cholesterol.

Potential Diabetes Deterrent

Diabetes has been a growing concern anywhere in the world. It has become an unexpected global killer, more so than car accidents. The fortunate thing about diabetes is that it can be prevented on most cases.

There has been epidemiological evidence that drinking green tea regularly may reduce the risk of people getting diabetes in the long run. Green tea is merely a preventive measure rather than cure, although there has not been any research on the rate of affectivity from drinking the tea of the green variety.

Further studies are on going to confirm the link and correlation of diabetes prevention and green tea.

Immune System Enhancer

For the longest time we only have vitamin c and zinc to help boost our immune system, but recent research about tea has shown that the beverage has thianine that helps in controlling infections in the body. Thianine helps boosts the effectivity of gamma delta T cells. These cells are some of the disease fighting machineries of our body.

This effect was found out in an experiment where 11 coffee drinkers and 10 black tea drinkers were observed for four weeks. Apparently the tea drinkers had 5 times higher anti-bacterial proteins in their blood tests than the coffee drinkers.

Other Potential Health Benefits

Tea has a lot more health benefits. Like coffee it also enhances mental clarity and alertness. This is due to the caffeine in both beverages.

Green tea also has an effect in fighting bad breath. Tea has natural anti-bacterial qualities that inhibit the growth of bacteria in the mouth.

Researchers are also considering tea to be the answer to the French Paradox. This paradox of the French people having healthier hearts than Americans despite of eating fat filled food stuffs. Researchers believe that tea drinking may have a link to this puzzle.

Recent studies has also shown that green tea can help in dieting. The experiment was done using coffee and placebo, green tea and coffee. Essentially, the green tea and coffee combination has helped drop a few pounds from the subjects.

Tea Side Effects

The only side effect of tea that are known so far is insomnia. Since tea, like coffee, has caffeine. The important thing to remember is that tea has less caffeine than coffee, so it has less of a side effect to the body.

Whether or not tea can cure the human body or prevent major illnesses it is clear that people enjoy drinking tea of any variety, may it be hot or cold. If in the future research finds that tea has indeed health benefits, we can still enjoy a cup of tea here and there just for relaxation and the occasional quenching of thirst.

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