Tea, the Healthy Beverage

Tea has been thought to hold medicinal uses for centuries by cultures such as Japan, China and India. Even England has seen tea as a health benefit for many years. It is just in the last few years that tea has been looked at for it's medicinal and healing benefits here in the United States.

From 1635 to 1657 there was a great debate at the positive or negative effects of tea on the body. These debates called the Tea Heretics took place in Holland as the consumption of tea skyrocketed. The debates among these doctors and university scholars were mainly ignored by the general public as tea consumption continued to soar. Tea has been proven to not be harmful to one's health but the current debate is what healing or health benefits tea really provides.

Teas are credited for having the ability to reduce high blood pressure, lower bad cholesterol, prevent blood clotting and even promote a healthy immune system. Research has shown that the healing or health benefits of tea come from a compound called polyphenols which are found in teas. These are commonly known as antioxidants. These antioxidants protect the body’s cells from oxidative stress. This is caused by free radicals that damage the cells of the body and can lead to all types of health problems including heart diseases and even Parkinson's disease.

Tea also contains amino acids that are unique only to tea. Tea also contains vitamins, minerals and methylxanthines. All of these components of tea help to promote a healthy immune system and can help the body fight diseases and viruses.

The benefits of tea are found to be most effective when 2 to 4 cups of tea are consumed each and everyday. Tea also contains fluoride and contains half the caffeine as a cup of coffee. Tea also contains no calories and can be a great item to add in a low calorie diet for weight loss. In fact tea has been prescribed over the years as a weight loss aid. The idea is that tea has no calories but a great taste. The only calorie that tea has is what is added to it. If you are adding tea to a diet regimen it is important to leave out the calories associated with sugar or honey. Try using a sugar substitute to sweeten your tea or add nothing at all.

There is also no research on whether decaffeinated tea has the same effects on one's health as caffeinated teas do. It is thought that the decaffeination process may also remove the antioxidants as well as the caffeine. Both of these are natural components of the tea leaves and there is not evidence as to what effect this process has on the tea as a health benefit.

The idea is to drink as much tea as possible. It does not matter what types of tea you enjoy just enjoy as much tea as possible. The idea is that the life expectancy of the Chinese and Japanese is enhanced due to their over whelming consumption of tea. Tea has been found to not harm the body and as the debate is still open as to the effectiveness of tea improving one's health, why not drink up as much tea as you can for the possible added benefits.