What is tea?
All kinds of teas are products of cured leaves of the Camellia sinensis, an evergreen shrub native to Asia.
These leaves are high in a health protective plant-based chemical known as polyphenols.
What determines whether the tea is green, black or white depends on the degree of processing those leaves undergo.
Black tea is fully fermented while green tea is not fermented at all.
Black and green teas differ in their caffeine content.
A study found that the caffeine content of 1 g of black tea ranged from 22 to 28 mg, while the caffeine content of 1 g of green tea ranged from 11 to 20 mg, reflecting a significant difference.
Are there any health benefits?
Polyphenols, the antioxidants abundant in tea, have been shown in some studies to reduce the risk of death due to heart disease.
In one study of 77,000 Japanese men and women, green tea consumption was linked with lower risk of death from heart disease.
Green tea contains very powerful chemical Catechins which is believed to fight against many kinds of cancers.
Green tea releases feel-good Dopamine chemical which improves mood and a sense of relaxation.
Polyphenols found in green tea especially chemical called EGCG has been shown to have a beneficial effect in Alzheimer’s dementia and Parkinson’s disease.
How about weight loss- Jury is still out on effects of green tea on weight loss.
Any pitfalls?
Tea contains caffeine which is a stimulant to our nervous system. Drinking too much caffeine can overstimulate nervous system and can cause sleep problems.
Also it can cause- palpitations- feeling of heart beating very fast.
Caffeine has a diuretic effect meaning it makes you pee more. So you may end up losing more fluid from the body than you put in with a glass of tea.
Too much caffeine over a short period of time can also cause the heart rate to go up and BP to rise. So if you have uncontrolled BP then caffeinated drinks may worsen it.
Beware of a harmful effect of added artificial sweeteners and other ingredients in a bottled tea.
Conclusion:
Though further research is needed to confirm the benefits, recent studies show that tea holds promise in heart disease, dementia and some kind of cancers.
In short drinking one to three cups of tea may confer some health advantages but be careful if you have any sleeping difficulty, anxiety, heart rhythm problem or uncontrolled hypertension.