The positive effects of tea have been recognized since the earliest days. People knew tea for thousands of years ago in Asia. It appears in most Oriental medicines. However, before learning about the medicinal properties of tea, please remember two things:
Before Talking About Medicinal properties
The drink is rich in flavor
Firstly, tea is a very pure beverage from green tea buds. Through various processing processes without any additives, thousands of teas are produced. It brings a rich world flavors to enjoy. So use your senses to feel the good teas.
The drink of the spirit
Tea has a strong vitality in Asian culture for thousands of years. Tea is also present in all ancient art such as poetry, painting, music … It feeds on this East Asian philosophical thought. This is the only drink in the world to create a spiritual world around it, with meditation, peace, happiness. So this is the biggest health benefit of tea to me.
The two most important pharmacological components
When talking about the health benefits of tea, you just remember about these two ingredients.
Polyphenols: Magical Medicine
Most of the medicinal value of tea comes from this compound, which is often perceived by the characteristic taste of tea. Polyphenols are divided into several categories, most often referred to as tannins. There are three most common health effects of Polyphenols:
- Anti-cancer: This substance works against cell mutation, antioxidant.
- Reduce fat: Polyphenols reduce the amount of lipid, cholesterol in the blood, anti-obesity, anti-aging cells.
- Anti poisoning, tooth decay: This effect comes from the high antibacterial properties of polyphenols compounds.
- Drinking tea helps fight harmful bacteria in food and in the oral cavity.
Caffeine: Awake and Insomnia
Caffeine is very well known for people. Like coffee, tea has a high caffeine content (but not more than coffee as many people mistaken). This substance stimulates the nervous system, also helps to awake, excite, stimulate the heart muscle to help blood circulation, reduce fatigue, stimulate kidney, diuretic.
However, caffeine also brings insomnia. And this is also why many people are afraid of using tea. The effect of sleep on each person is very different depending on body and the frequency of use.
80% of caffeine dissolves when brewing tea. So if you want to reduce the amount of caffeine in tea, just rinse the tea with hot water before brewing and shorten the brewing time.
Benefits Of Each Tea Type.
The ratio of the above substances in each tea is different. For the purpose of reference, I listed a few benefits of tea under traditional medicine with each tea.
Black Tea
- Reduce fat, reduce “bad” holesterol
- Rich in fluoride, enhances oral health
- Reduce fatigue, stimulate the central nervous system
- Help strengthen bones
- Strengthen the elasticity of blood vessels
Green Tea
- Catechins in tea have anti-bacterial and anti-viral properties
- Lower cholesterol and high blood pressure
- Kill bacteria in the mouth and intestines
- Catechin in tea and polysaccharides can reduce blood sugar
- Improve blood circulation
Oolong Tea
- Polyphenols prevent cavities
- Vitamin C is very good for the skin
- Reduce skin irritation
- Improve the performance of fat-degrading enzymes
- Lower cholesterol
- Harmonize yin and yang