Many people are under the mistaken assumption that drinking tea is not something that should be encouraged. This is not entirely wrong, but tea itself is not why it’s true. Milk and sugar are often added to tea, which can be quite bad to regularly have as part of your diet. However, tea is very good for you on its own, in particular natural high antioxidant teas like green tea or white tea. Tea helps by increasing metabolism and decreasing appetite in people who drink it naturally. For example, new research clearly showed a decrease in reported “desire for food” among those that took green tea supplements each day. There are various kinds of teas out there, from green to oolong teas, all with their own advantages and disadvantages.
If you hear anyone bring up Chinese tea, they probably think about the health benefits immediately. White tea is now taking off in popularity after having been used in China for centuries to improve health. White tea is different than green tea, and it’s considered more “aromatic” as well. This tea helps remove the amount of blood borne toxins that you typically have, and has high levels of antioxidants. Antioxidants help reduce your risk of cancer and cardiac related diseases by reducing free radicals in your body. A particular type of white tea known as ‘Silver Needle’ is often used to treat fever and inflammation and has some sound scientific basis for its claims to do so.
Why Green Tea is Such a Popular Choice
Green tea is often the preferred choice for those new to using tea to help them live a healthier life. It’s easy to see why once you look at the science behind it. Studies have found that green tea actually contains something called EGCG which helps people lose weight and lower cholesterol. Green tea, because it’s not processed in any way, has these ingredients in their most natural forms and at the highest concentrations. There are many forms of antioxidants found in green tea as well, such as polyphenols, which have been shown to be quite effective in reducing cancer risk and improving overall health. Reserach on this is so one sided in favor of green tea’s benefits, that doctors are now directly prescribing green tea supplements (highly concentrated forms of the tea) to their patients.
Other Types of Teas
There are more types of teas out there than green and white. A lot of people are now drinking two different teas called Puerh and Black tea. Puerh is very popular because it helps people lose weight. It contains specific ingredients which have been shown in lab studies to boost metabolism directly. It also works in a way that directly reduces plaque buildup in arteries by reducing lipid production in our cells. Lipids are the things that cause fat to be stored in our bodies, a complex protein that is attacked by the unique antioxidants in tea. Studies have shown that people significantly reduce their weight with a tea like Puerh with little modification to their diet.
Oolong tea (another name for black tea) is another alternative to any of these choices. Black teas are fermented for long periods to draw out flavors and enhance taste. As a result, they contain new antioxidants not found in other teas that are produced during fermentation. Theaflavins, for example, have been proven in studies to reduce the frequency of cell degradation. In addition, the same ingredients listed above for weight loss have also been found in black teas. Oolong tea is a great alternative as well because it helps remove risk of cancer, help increase longevity and even improve blood circulation in the body.