People are giving up coffee for tea. One
popular reason is for reducing caffeine intake. There could be a
couple hundred mg of caffeine in the cuppa while it can be as little as 1 mg in
tea.
Before we go further to discuss this topic,
however, the reader has to be aware that moderate intake of caffeine is not a
bad idea for most people. Especially for those who know how to use fine teas
for their caffeine content.
detox, fight
alzheimer’s and fatty deposits
After all, the presence of methylxanthines in
tea, such as caffeine and theobromine, not only keeps you alert, but may very
well help fight Alzheimer’s disease. Caffeine also relaxes the
bronchial smooth muscle in the air tract, and therefore helps breathing. The
materials are also diuretic. Passing waste liquids is critical in detoxification.
The presence of theobromine is also associated with preventing
formation of fatty cells in the human body. It is therefore a contributive
element in tea’s health effects for waist line control and prevention for
cardiovascular diseases.
Much work is still needed for a usable database
of the caffeine contents of various teas. Tea type and quality have
systematically been made unclear in most surveys and researches regarding
health related contents in tea. Anyway, there can still be an average of 40 mg
of it in the cup of green tea; so why is it that people feel much better
drinking tea?
caffeine works
in synergy with others
A key may lie in tea’s other key contents:
polyphenols and theanine. Especially abundant in green tea, epigallocatechin
3-gallate (EGCG or EGC3G) is found to be the most potent tea polyphenols
for anti-oxidative, anti-mutagenic and anti-pathogenic effects. Scientists
isolating this substance from green tea for experiments discovered that it is
often bonded with caffeine to form larger particles. Some found that the two
substances working together would be much more effective in the said preventive
functions, particularly in burning more calories and preventing cancer.
liver health
Caffeine intake protects the liver. It
works better together with green tea catechin for synergic effectiveness. It
has been found that the intake of catechins in its pure extract form does not
show the same high effectiveness as in drinking green tea, with its caffeine
content. This is one more reason tea drinking as a habit is far more helpful for
your health than taking supplements.
calm and
focused
While coffee keeps you awake and tense, tea
helps to stay calm and focused. Theanine, another key salutary element unique
in tea, plays an important role. It has been proven that the material effectively
calms the person by working as a facilitator in signal transmission between
nerve cells. This relaxing effect balances out the tenseness that may have
brought about by caffeine. That is why while both coffee and tea help you to
stay alert, tea has a very different and much more desirable effect.
better bones
Some people would also be concerned of caffeine
causing the loss of calcium in the bones. There have been findings that people
with coffee habits have a tendency of bone problems in older age. Some
scientists therefore hypothesize that all beverages with caffeine should be
avoided. There are other studies that prove tea to be contributive to stronger
bones, though. A study in Australia involving 1,500 women between the age
of 70 to 85 concluded that tea drinking helps preservation of hip bone
structure in older women. In other words, prevention of osteosclerosis, not
uncommon in the post-menopause population. Similar studies in the Netherlands,
UK, Turkey, Iran, Japan and China have all point to the beneficial effects of
tea in preventing bone problems such as osteoporosis. The hypothesis that tea
would cause bone weakening as would coffee, therefore, does not have a strong
ground. The positive effects, however, are caused by EGCG and quercetin (a kind
of flavonols) rather than by caffeine.
There are, however, cases of acquired
osteosclerosis or fluorosis because of chronic exposure to fluoride in tea.
Fluoride is typically higher in over-grown tealeaves. Over-growns are used by
large scale farms to make low quality tea products, such as commercial grade
tea bags, bottled drinks and instant mixes. Exceptionally large quantity of
consumption of such products may lead to the named side effects.
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