Tea is known as nature's 'wonder drug'. Of late, because of its health benefits. Tea is the second most widely consumed drink in the world, topped only by the most essential of all liquids - water. It has been said that the Chinese and the Japanese live longer because they have lot of tea.

The most popular types of tea are:
• Green Tea
• Black Tea
Other teas are:
• Ginseng Tea
• Herbal Tea
• Oolong Tea
• Rooibos Tea
• White tea

Tea is prepared from Linder leaves, leaf buds and tender stalks of various varieties of the evergreen known as camellia sinensis. The extent to which these leaves are being processed gives rise to different types of tea. Green tea is the least processed .They are just steamed well before packing. Black and red tea is moderately dried, crushed and fermented. Again the color of tea depends upon the length of fermentation. Whether it's going to be black or red tea.

WHAT MAKES THEM GOOD FOR THE BODY ?

Recent research shows that any tea derived from camellia sinensis has cancer-fighting properties. The leaves of these plants contain chemicals called polyphenols which give tea its antioxidant properties.

They serve the following functions:
• They take on the "free radicals" in the body and prevent them from harming the healthy cells in the body. These free radicals can cause damage to the cells and have been implicated in the slow chain reaction of damage leading to heart disease and cancer.
• Help prevent blood clotting
• Help lower cholesterol levels
• Help neutralize enzymes that aid in the growth of tumors
• Help deactivate cancer promoters
• Help stimulate the immune system
Tea also has fluoride for strong teeth, has no calories.

Apart from polyphenols, tea also contains has fluoride for strong teeth, has no calories. A variety of other ingredients that is beneficial to one's health is also present in tea. These include theanine which is an amino acids present only in tea, vitamins, minerals ,such as phosphorus, calcium, potassium, magnesium and manganese and methylxanthines.:

All the above components help in the following manner to the body:
• Help fight against mutagenic agents which causes cancer.
• Delay aging
• Help fight high blood pressure
• Help fight against viral and bacterial infection
• Help improve the functions of the digestive and excretory systems

To sum it up - by drinking 2-3 cups a day of tea, you can reap in the numerous curative and preventive tea benefits.

DID YOU KNOW THAT ?

• Tea contains about 20 types of amino acids. L-theanine is the most abundant type of amino acid in green tea..
• Tea leaves are said to be high in Vitamin K.which helps in blood clotting.

It has been recently reported that an herbal tea called chamomile tea relief's sickness and stress. They actually help relieve a wide range of health ailments, including colds and menstrual cramps.
It has been studied that drinking tea increases urinary levels of glycine which is an amino acid that is believed to relieve muscle spasms. That's the reason women feel little relieved during menstrual time as they seen to relax the uterus. Glycine also is known to act as a nerve relaxant.

ARE ALL TEA GOOD FOR THE BODY ?

• Higher quality teas may have more catechin antioxidants than lower quality teas.

• White tea has more antioxidants than any other tea.

• Green tea has more catechin antioxidants than black tea since black tea goes through more processing.

• Unfermented rooibos tea has more polyphenol antioxidants than fermented rooibos.

• Freshly prepared teas have more polyphenol antioxidants than instant or bottled teas.

• More researchers say that brewed (cold or hot) or caffeinated tea has more antioxidants than instant teas.

RECENT STUDIES THAT SHOWS THE HEALTH BENEFITS OF TEA AND ITS ANTIOXIDANTS:

Heart Benefits:

• Study finds tea drinkers have lower blood pressure (Archives of Internal Medicine, 2004).

• Tea may lower cholesterol and protect against heart disease (Journal of Nutrition, 2003).

• Black tea may lower "bad" cholesterol (United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Beltsville Human Nutrition Research Center, 2003).

• Tea consumption may help heart disease patients (Circulation: The Journal of the American Heart Association, 2001).

Cancer Prevention:

• Green tea could help stem esophageal cancer. (Harvard Medical School, 2004).

• Green and black tea can slow down the spread of prostate cancer (Center for Human Nutrition at UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine, 2004).

• Tea may protect against cancer caused by smoking. (Journal of Nutrition, 2003).

• Green tea and white tea fight colon cancer (Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University study, Carcinogenesis, 2003).

• Hot tea may lower risk of some skin cancers (University of Arizona study, Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention (Vol. 9, No. 7), 2001).

• Green tea consumption may lower stomach cancer risk (University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Public Health study, International Journal of Cancer (Vol. 92: 600-604), 2001).

Hypertension-Reducing Benefits:

• Green and oolong teas reduce risk of hypertension (National Cheng Kung University study, Archives of Internal Medicine, 2004).
Immunity-Boosting Benefits
• Tea believed to boost the body's defenses (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2003)

Leukemia-Fighting Benefits:

• A green tea component helps kill leukemia cells (Mayo Clinic, 2004).
Alzheimer's-Fighting Benefits:
• Drinking tea might delay Alzheimer's Disease (Newcastle University's Medicinal Plant Research Centre study, Phytotherapy Research, 2004).
AIDS-Fighting Benefits:
• Tea may play a role as an AIDS fighter (University of Tokyo, Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, 2003).

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