The wonders of tea

[yathish]

The benefits of tea have been known since it was created in China over 5000 years ago. Learn more interesting facts.

Tea comes in many different varieties and shopping for the healthiest brand is quite a bewildering experience, but rest assured that whatever tea you put int o your trolley, regardless of what type it is, will have the following health benefits:
Antioxidants – Tea leaves contain even more natural antioxidants than most fruit, vegetables and red wine. Antioxidants neutralise free radicals – incomplete cells that attack healthy cells and cause oxidative damage that can lead to heart disease and cancer. In so doing, antioxidants have significant disease-fighting properties.
Tea is rich in a powerful type of antioxidant compound known as flavonoids.
Flavonoids are more effective antioxidants than vitamin C and E and beta-carotene. They have been found to improve the blood vessels' ability to relax and therefore stop the arterial blockage that leads to heart attacks and strokes. Flavonoids also stop "bad" cholesterol from oxidizing and hardening the arteries.
Because flavonoids have a short life, you need to continuously ingest flavonoid-rich foods, such as fruit, vegetables and tea to experience their full health benefits.
As long as you don't overload your tea with sugar or high-fat milk, it's a low-calorie way to increase your antioxidant level with almost no downsides. Tea cannot replace but can supplement the recommended flavinoid-rich five fruits and vegetables a day.
Both black and green teas contain cancer-fighting polyphenols. Also known as tea tannins or catechins, polyphenols seem to be the most potent therapeutic plant-derived chemicals because of their triple function – they are antiseptic, antioxidant and detoxifying. Polyphenols that have antioxidant properties seem to help inhibit the growth of cancerous tumours.
Tea and vitamin C
Both green tea and herbal teas are sources of vitamin C.
Ethylamine, found in black and green teas, also targets pathogens including parasites, viruses and perhaps, tumours.
A recent experiment by the National Academy of Sciences in the US found that the immune system blood cells from tea drinkers responded five times faster to germs than the blood cells of coffee drinkers.
Tea has antioxidant, antibacterial, antiseptic and detoxifying properties. What more can you ask for in a drink?

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Types of tea
There are three base types of tea that are classified according to the way that they are processed, namely black, green and oolong tea. All three come from the same plant, Camellia sinensis. However, black tea comes from African, Indian and Sri Lankan plantations, whereas green tea comes from the Far East.
These three teas are often classified by their region of origin, for example, Ceylon, China and Darjeeling.
Further sub categories of tea include scented tea, decaffeinated tea, organic tea (like Rooibos or Honeybush), herbal infusions (made from flowering plants) and Earl Grey ( a black tea and bergamot mix). Manufacturers may flavour their teas with flowers or herbs, but, if the tea does not contain one of the three main bases, then it isnot really a tea in the true sense of the word.
Black tea is the product of the cutting, withering, rolling, fermenting and drying processes that result in brownish black tea leaves.
Green tea is steamed to preserve the green colour of the tea leaves and in doing so prevents fermentation as the veins of the leaves are not broken. The green leaves are then crushed and dried. Oolong teas are semi-green teas that are partially fermented.
Comparing the three:

Black tea	Fermented	Fully oxidized	Lowest amount of tannin	Most caffeine
Green tea	Unfermented	Not oxidized	Highest amount of tannin	Least caffeine
Oolong tea	Semi-fermented	Partially oxidized	Average amount of tannin	Average amount of caffeine

All three types of tea come from the same plant and therefore share many of the same health benefits, such as antibacterial and antioxidising properties. But the efficacy decreases slightly the darker the tea leaf becomes.
Over all, black and green tea have comparable amounts of antioxidants and therefore are both beneficial to your health, so choosing which tea to drink is simply a matter of taste.
Additional uses of tea
Do your feet smell? Are they tired and aching from being squashed into your shoes all day? If so, fill a tub with diluted lukewarm tea, the juice of one lemon and a pinch of salt for a relaxing foot soak.
Mossier bite? Place a wet tea bag on the bite to relive pain and swelling.
Tired, sore eyes? Give them a rest by placing wet teabags on them for a few minutes.

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Tea tips
Drinking tea has many health benefits, so much so that tea has even been called the "magic elixir." To get all these benefits, though, you have to know what tea to shop for, how much to drink and how to brew the ideal cuppa.
Decaffeinated tea is not completely caffeine-free, most decaffeinated teas contain about four milligrams of caffeine per cup compared to the average cup of black tea that contains 40 milligrams of caffeine. For comparison's sake: a cup of filter coffee has 865 milligrams of caffeine.
Many "herbal teas" on the market today do not actually contain the leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant and are therefore not real teas and also will not provide all the health benefits of real tea leaves.
It is recommended that you should drink at least 5 cups of tea a day. This amount of tea, scientists say, boosts the immune system and gives the body a better chance of fighting off infections.
Remember though that instant, bottled, decaffeinated, highly processed or herbal teas do not count because they do not have the same antioxidant properties of green, black, and oolong teas.
Researchers at the Food Safety and Toxicology Center of Michigan state University found that the perfect brewing temperature of tea is 80 degrees Celsius, anything less won't extract the same levels of polyphenols, and anything more will damage the polyphenols with too much heat.


Black tea
94% of all tea that is consumed is black. While there are a few downsides, black tea is generally regarded as healthy.
Key health benefits
· lowers the risk of cancer due to high levels of antioxidants that prevent the oxidation that damages DNA and turns normal cells cancerous
· when combined with a diet high in soy, like that of the Chinese, black tea has been found to inhibit angiogenesis, a process in which cancerous tumours grow blood vessels to stay alive
· Antioxidants such as flavonoids reduce cholesterol that clogs up your blood vessels and prevents blood from reaching the heart
· Flavonoids are linked with the reduction of low-density lipoproteins (LDL), the "bad" cholesterol, in the blood
· Studies show that 150 milligrams of flavinoids - the amount in an average cup of tea - produced immediate health effects on the heart, while 500 milligrams - or roughly three-and-a-half cups of tea - produced a more sustained effect
· Studies show that heart patients who drink four cups of black tea a day for a month have greatly improved blood circulation
· Compounds found in black tea leaves fight cavities and can reduce plaque

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Downsides?
Tea has half the amount of caffeine than coffee and far less than coke, nevertheless, too much of a good thing CAN cause insomnia and nervousness. Note that out of the three main types of tea, black tea contains the most caffeine.
Extensive research shows that up to 300 milligrams of caffeine (about eight cups of tea) is not a health risk.
Anaemics should avoid excessive tea drinking with meals because the antioxidant properties of tea can reduce an individual's ability to absorb iron.
Too much tea can discolour your teeth
Interesting facts
Most of the tea on our shelves today is black tea; in fact 94% of all tea that is consumed is black.
A study conducted by the American Heart Foundation in New Orleans found that tea drinkers have a lower risk of heart attack and stroke. This is because black tea relaxes and expands the arteries thereby increasing blood flow to the heart.


thanks & regards
yathish