Tea and its Benefits

Tea and its benefits

Tea is 25% catechin, a powerful antioxidant. It is also rich in vitamins, minerals, caffeine and tannins. The amount of active substances varies from tea to tea. The more the leaves are crushed, small or abused, the more the tea loses its beneficial properties. So prefer loose teas of good quality.

The catechins and isoflavones in tea offer some protection against cardiovascular disease. Like coffee, tea contains caffeine: a stimulant that helps keep the senses alert and boosts metabolism. Tea tannins are diuretic and anti-diarrheal. Tea also contains fluoride, a mineral essential for strong and healthy bones and teeth.


Black, green or white tea: only advantages!

In Europe, the most consumed tea is black tea. This is obtained by letting the tea tree leaves ferment. But this step causes the tea to lose some of its properties. Many people add a little milk to their cup to reduce the bitterness of black tea. But this is a bad idea, because the milk destroys the action of the remaining catechins in the tea.

Green tea, on the other hand, is steamed and unfermented, allowing it to retain more of its benefits, while containing less caffeine. As for white tea, it comes from tea tree buds and is the richest in vitamins and antioxidants.

Slim down with green tea

Green tea has another benefit. Diuretic and cleansing, it has beneficial effects on the metabolism. How? By stimulating the burning of calories, by slowing down the transformation of sugars into fats and by reducing the storage of fats in the cells.

A research was conducted by the German Institute of Nutrition on laboratory mice. Half of them received a polyphenol (Epigallocatechin gallate or EGCG) from green tea. After 29 days, these mice had a lower weight and lower lipid levels than those who had not consumed the polyphenol EGCG. We still have to drink green tea every day and check its effects on humans!

Tea to reduce the risk of cancer?

Could EGCG (Epigallocatechin gallate) be a promising active ingredient? EGCG would have the power to slow down the proliferation of cancer cells. The same probably goes for the catechins in tea. These are only assumptions for the moment, because nothing could be formally demonstrated. But cancer mortality remains low in a country like Japan, where tea is widely consumed.

Studies in China and Japan have shown that this is likely due to the catechin content of green tea. Other Japanese researchers have established that the risk of prostate cancer decreases by almost 50% for men who drink five to six cups of green tea a day.

In the United States, analyzes carried out on 501 women with breast cancer and 549 “control” subjects prove the importance of green tea among a series of other factors in the prevention of breast cancer.

Tea for the heart and diabetes

Everything seems to indicate that black tea would reduce the occurrence of cardiovascular diseases. If you drink several cups of black tea a day, you reduce the risk of arteriosclerosis by 30%.

This is the conclusion of researchers from the University of Utrecht, in the Netherlands. They looked at the eating habits of 37,000 Dutch people and followed them for thirteen years. But it is still unclear whether these good results are explained by caffeine or antioxidants.

As a whole, tea exerts beneficial effects in case of diabetes. Drinking three cups or more every day can reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes by 40%. At least that's what researchers at the University of Utrecht claim, following a very serious study carried out on a large scale.

For their part, Australian researchers conclude that the risk is reduced by 25%, which is not negligible. No doubt this is due to the presence of antioxidants in tea.

Tea against… irritated eyes and (perhaps) body hair

If you suffer from hay fever and have easily irritated eyes, you will be relieved by applying a cooled tea bag to the eyelids after use. We owe this beneficial effect to its tannins.

In a surprising publication from Phytotherapy Research, Turkish researchers claim that mint green tea can help women fight excess hair growth (hirsutism). One can doubt the conclusions of a study carried out on barely 21 subjects, but the results are very clear.

The benefit of tea would be explained by its action on the levels of male hormones (androgens). For the same reason, peppermint tea can increase menstruation and any accompanying cramps.

Picture :

The 7th Heaven infusion and the Insomniac Mist is a perfect match between aromatherapy and an infusion to solve your sleep problems...

Our tea proposals:

Calming thoughts and/or Nirvana to soothe stress and anxiety

Balance and/or Tonic for cardiovascular health and for health in general

Sports detox for sugar detox and premenstrual symptoms

3x Green for its antioxidant qualities

Sweet Dreams, Sweet Night or 7th Heaven to help you sleep.

Sources and references:

• JDM-Isabelle Huot - 5 bonnes raisons de boire du thé
• Le Guide Santé - Jimmy Braun - Thé : bienfaits et méfaits pour la santé
• Selection.ca - Courtney Reilly-Clarke - 
• Les bienfaits du thé pour la santé : 6 variétés à savourer
• Passeportsante.net - 10 bienfaits du thé
• Passportsante.net - Le thé : de nombreux bienfaits pour la santé