Medical Benefits of Tea

Tea has long since been a regular staple in today's drinking customs. Tea holds a major market in many countries, some even listing tea as one of their most prized. But what truly makes tea so special besides being an alternative drink? Recent studies have shown that the medical benefits that tea holds can be used to dramatically improve a person's health.

Many studies held and published all around suggest that teas along the likes of black tea, green tea, and jasmine tea hold numerous health benefits. From helping cure diabetes, cancer, to even weight loss and scientific acceptance of tea has sparked a public interest in the alternative drink.

Tea has long since been accepted in major countries of Asia as a healthy supplemental drink, often approved by the public as helping them maintain their general health. While never scientifically explained in detail, many countries have integrated tea into their culture and food paradigm. Tea has been associated with nearly every meal in many countries, and it has only been recently discovered that this could be a result of why many Asians suffer from a lower susceptibility count to diseases such as cholesterol and diabetes.

Recent scientific journals and study groups have discovered that tea, green tea especially, holds many anti-cancer properties. Green tea holds the antioxidant epigallocatechnin gallate, which according to a Japanese study group at Kyushu University in Japan, slows down the cancer cells that infect a human, reduced the number and size of tumors, and acts as a deterrent agent against cell damage caused by cancer. Tea also contains caffeine in moderate amounts, which allows for the body to produce a slight increased output of energy; in addition to the benefits of caffeine, some types of tea also contains chemicals that increase the thermo genesis of a human body, or the rate at which calories are burned.

Stress levels can also be dramatically lowered by the consumption of tea, in which a study showed that subjects who drank four cups of tea per day for a four week period was subject o a average cortisol (a chemical that induces the creation of fat) of 47%.

Tea has found a loyal following in the United States of America as well, following a dramatic increase of tea imports within the states. Many find themselves switching over to this alternative drink as a healthy choice after the less desirable effects of other caffeinated drinks, such as coffee and soda. Tea can be readily bought in mass amounts for a low price, thus increasing the popularity of it as a cheap replacement caffeine source. While the caffeine is not lower than that of its counterparts, tea holds many superior advantages over its competitors in terms of general safety to consume. Consumers should be advised, however, that caffeine should be ingested in moderate quantities as caffeine itself is an active stimulant.