What happens to the body of people who drink tea for a long time? 3 benefits slowly emerge, study finds
China has a history of 5,000 years, and tea has a history of 4,000 years.
It is rumored that "Shen Nong tastes all kinds of herbs, and encounters seventy-two poisons every day, and gets rid of it." The "tea" here refers to tea, and tea has officially debuted in China since then. Today, tea has long been well-known at home and abroad, and together with coffee and cocoa, it is known as the three major non-alcoholic beverages in the world.
Tea drinkers like the sensory enjoyment of its full color, fragrance, and cultural connotations of "harmony, respect, purity, beauty and truth".
Of course, the health benefits of the tea itself are also a plus.
There are more than 500 chemical components in tea, including more than 450 organic compounds and more than 10 minerals and vitamins. Many studies have shown that drinking tea has various health benefits, including regulating blood lipid metabolism, anti-oxidative aging, improving immunity, maintaining intestinal health and so on.
In 2022, a study in the Annals of Internal Medicine involving 500,000 people showed that drinking 2-3 cups a day was associated with a 13% lower risk of all-cause mortality compared with those who did not drink tea.
And all of the great health magic of tea is largely attributed to the ingredient tea polyphenols , which is a collection of polyphenols in tea leaves, and the astringency of tea also comes from this.
People who drink tea for a long time can reap 3 benefits brought by tea polyphenols.
1. Prevention of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases
In China, the morbidity and mortality of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases have long ranked first, among which the high blood lipid and cholesterol levels are the main culprits.
Tea polyphenols are equivalent to the regulators of blood lipids and cholesterol. They can help maintain the cardiovascular and cerebrovascular systems, reduce the incidence of disease, and promote blood pressure, fat reduction, and prevention of atherosclerosis by inhibiting absorption and promoting metabolism . .
2. Delay cell aging and improve immunity
The mainstream view is that the aging and disease of the body are related to the imbalance of free radicals. Free radicals are like a power station, providing a steady stream of energy for our life activities.
But this is only one of them. The free radicals themselves are not stable . In addition, they are susceptible to the decay of the body and external stimulation. The "power station" may become a "nuclear power station", causing some out of control scenes, such as attacking major Cell organization, forced binding of molecules (proteins, DNA) with mismatched properties, etc., eventually cause cell damage, mutation and even death .
Therefore, scavenging free radicals in the body has always been a problem that scholars want to overcome.
In recent years, more and more studies have found that tea polyphenols in tea can actively combine and scavenge free radicals, protect cells from damage, improve the immune level of the human body, and help delay the process of cell aging.
3. Promotes gut health
The gut microbiota has always been considered as the "second brain" of the human body and is closely related to metabolism and endocrine circulation.
The effect of tea on the gut is actually similar to that of prebiotics. Tea polyphenols, theanine, and caffeine in tea are all good helpers to maintain the balance of intestinal microbes, which together promote the growth of beneficial bacteria and inhibit the reproduction of harmful bacteria. Among them, the positive significance of drinking tea for the prevention of obesity, diabetes and other diseases has also been confirmed.
However, for those who love tea, they may be more concerned about the health value of different teas.
Previous studies have affirmed the positive association of green tea in reducing cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease, but this does not include the common black tea . A study with a sample of more than 700,000 people in China, Japan, and South Korea pointed out that 1 cup of green tea (120ml) per day was associated with a 6% reduction in the risk of cerebral hemorrhage , while the correlation of black tea was not obvious.
The reason may be related to the content of tea polyphenols mentioned earlier .
Due to the different growth environment and fermentation process, the content of tea polyphenols in each tea is also different. For example, fully fermented black tea has less tea polyphenol content, while unfermented white tea and green tea have more tea polyphenol content.
But that's not the only measure of tea's value.
For example, Pu-erh tea (dark tea) contains active enzymes, and Wuyi rock tea (green tea) contains trace elements such as selenium and germanium. Each tea has its own unique value, so there is no need to worry too much about which tea to drink.
But how to drink tea is something everyone needs to pay attention to.
1. Drink hot tea
People often worry that overnight tea will cause cancer, but in addition to the greatly reduced nutritional value, overnight tea has no risk of cancer. The real carcinogen is actually drinking hot tea!
As early as 2016, the International Agency for Research on Cancer listed hot drinks above 65°C as a Category 2A carcinogen (carcinogenic risk).
2. Use a tea set with tea scale to make tea
The tea scale itself contains a variety of metal substances. When it merges with the nutrients in the food and precipitates in the stomach, it is easy to cause digestive problems and stomach discomfort.
3. Drink tea immediately after meals to help digestion
The tannic acid contained in tea is easy to combine with protein to form "stones", which increases the burden of gastrointestinal digestion, but cannot promote digestion. Therefore, it is recommended to drink tea half an hour after meals. In the same way, winter jujube, hawthorn, and unripe persimmons all contain high tannic acid, so it is not recommended to eat too much.
References:
[1]Tea Consumption and All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality in the UK Biobank.
[2]Cheng, P., Zhang, J., Liu, W. et al. Tea consumption and cerebral hemorrhage risk: a meta-analysis. Acta Neurol Belg 122, 1247–1259 (2022).
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