Health Benefits of Tea

Studies have shown numerous health benefits of tea such as cancer and heart disease prevention. Tea is also claimed to help strengthen bones as well as improve digestion and strengthen the immune system. Tea’s high anti-oxidant concentration is believed to have an anti-aging effect.

What are the properties of tea?

Caffeine

Caffeine is a natural substance found in numerous plants. Its consumption helps with metabolism, weight loss and vitality. Caffeine is a natural stimulant that has been proven to boost thermogenesis, which is the generation of heat within the body. This is the process at the center of fat burning and weight loss.

Polyphenols

The Polyphenols found in tea provide health benefits because they have the ability to remove free radicals, which are known for prematurely aging the skin along and causing the dark spots associated with aging. Free radicals have also been associated with hindering the immune system and they are associated with cancer cells as well as muscle tissue deterioration or damage.

Polyphenols impact glucose metabolism in part because they help the body regulate sensitivity to insulin. Substances in green tea enhance sensitivity to insulin, and help keep the brain functioning smoothly on steady levels of glucose. Polyphenols that are included in teas are classified as catechins.

Catechins

Catechins are a category of polyphenols, a group of chemicals long thought to underlie tea's healthful effects. Catechin provides health benefits by inactivating the effects of tumor promoters. Thus, this slows the spreading of cancer.

Catechins are converted during the tea oxidation/fermentation process to theaflavins--an entirely different class of flavonoids, which are practically non-existent in green tea (unoxidized), but abundant in black tea (fully oxidized). Theaflavins are responsible for the antioxidant activity that give black tea its benefits, and would presumably cause arterial dilation.

Antioxidants

Antioxidants are substances that slow down the damaging effects of oxidation, and they are found naturally in fruits and vegetables. Once they are introduced into the body, antioxidants neutralize free radicals by giving up an electron. Antioxidants impair the ability of free radical cells to harm the molecules that make up our bodies. Antioxidants may help protect our body from free radical damage. tea ranks as high as, and in some cases higher than, many fruits and vegetables in the Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity or ORAC score, which measures antioxidant potential of plant-based foods.

Antioxidant polyphenols are one of the greatest health benefits of tea. It is important to continually replenish antioxidant molecules, as they are the body’s defense against the damaging effects of free radicals, which can accelerate the progression of cancer and cardiovascular issues.