Originally published January 31 2006
Americans can benefit from tea consumption, according to latest medical reports
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
FortWayne.com talks about America's healthy obsession with tea, which many studies show contains high levels of antioxidants.
Tea is the most-consumed beverage worldwide next to water.
And according to the Tea Association, Americans consumed well over 50 billion servings of tea in 2004.
About 87 percent was black tea, 12.5 percent green tea, and the rest was oolong tea.
Tea ranks among plants with the highest total flavonoid content.
Dr. Ron Prior of the USDA compared tea to many fruits and vegetables and found it to be higher in antioxidant components, says Joe Simrany, president of the Tea Association of the USA Inc.
Only white tea comes from a different part of the plant than the others, while green, black and oolong are made from the upper leaves.
To achieve a variety of tastes, the tea leaves are exposed to air, a process called fermentation.
Herbal teas were originally brewed for medicinal purposes.
A 6-ounce cup of tea usually contains 25 to 60 milligrams of caffeine, less than the typical 100 milligrams in 6 ounces of coffee.
"Individual compounds in green tea have been tested in more detail than individual compounds in black tea, and there have been more studies on a wide variety of health issues with green tea ...
most with very positive results," says Kinsinger.
White tea is the least studied, but it probably has more of the catechin antioxidants than either green or black tea.
If brewed, iced tea (85 percent of tea consumed in America) has the same amount of antioxidants, catechins and flavonoids as hot tea.
Do green tea supplements provide the same health benefits as tea?
"Most scientists recommend consuming whole foods over supplements because of the possibility that other components within the foods are causing the positive outcome."
Tea and tea flavonoids have also been shown to help strengthen the body's immune system, protect teeth by inhibiting plaque bacteria and potentially fight free radicals produced during strenuous exercise.
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