St George & Sutherland Shire Leader

7 Potential benefits of drinking Chinese tea

7 Potential benefits of drinking Chinese tea
7 Potential benefits of drinking Chinese tea

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Drinking tea is an ancient tradition for many cultures especially the Chinese. Tea is derived from the Camellia Sinensis plant. It is made when boiling water is poured over the fresh cut or cured remains of the harvested plant. Then, it's left to sit and absorb into the water.

The four main types of tea that are consumed are black tea, white tea, green tea, and oolong tea. All of these types of tea are made from the same plant, the difference is how the plant is cut, oxidized, and prepared once it is ready to be harvested. Drinking tea is known to have many health benefits and today we will go over just a few of those.

1. Chinese tea can reduce risk of diabetes

One of the many benefits of drinking tea regularly is it helps increase insulin productivity in your body, helping you reduce the risk of diabetes. Many people aren't aware of the fact that tea contains polyphenols. These micronutrients are filled with antioxidants, and other properties that help prevent diabetes and cardiovascular disease. It is known that drinking 5-6 cups of oolong tea a day can reduce your risk of diabetes by over 30 per cent.

2. Chinese tea can aid you in losing weight

Chinese tea also helps when it comes to losing weight. The most popular tea for weight loss is green tea. Green tea helps by speeding up your metabolism meaning your body will turn fat into energy at a faster rate. Green tea has natural caffeine in it, caffeine is known to naturally burn fat and help increase exercise performance. Green tea is also full of many antioxidants like EGCG which are known to help make breaking down fat a faster process.

3. Chinese tea can improve muscle endurance

Known to be full of catechins, Chinese tea helps speed up the process of burning fat. It helps you gain muscle and increase your muscle endurance in the process. Increased muscular endurance has many benefits that include reducing the risk of injury, increase in confidence, and increase in physical abilities.

4. Chinese tea is known to improve memory

Many of the benefits of green tea are for your physical health. But green tea can also help improve your mental abilities. This is because tea contains enzymes that help increase your brain function, and decrease cognitive impairment in middle aged adults.

A study conducted in Singapore concluded that drinking tea regularly can reduce cognitive impairment in older adults by as much as 50-86 per cent. This means that Chinese tea might help you find a way to combat cognitive diseases in the future like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.

7 Potential benefits of drinking Chinese tea
7 Potential benefits of drinking Chinese tea

5. Chinese tea has anti-inflammatory properties

Inflammation is caused when your body is trying to fight foreign objects that are trying to hurt it. This might mean your immune system will be fighting toxins, injuries, or even infections. Sometimes your body might confuse its own cells as a threat which can lead to an autoimmune disease. You can see signs of inflammation if your skin is red, swollen, you are in pain, or the affected area seems warm due to increase blood flow. Green and black tea are known to be full of antioxidants. The most powerful antioxidant found in these teas is EGCG. This powerful antioxidant can reduce inflammation in immune and vascular cells.

6. Fight free radicals

Free radicals can cause a lot of damage to your body if not taken care of properly. Free radicals are described as molecules that move throughout your body with unpaired electrons. Since these molecules are missing an electron pair, they look for other molecules to rob an electron from.

This process can cause severe damage to your cells and body. Chinese tea helps your body because in order for your body to be able to work properly your free radicals and antioxidants need to be completely balanced. Having too many free radicals can cause Oxidative stress. Your body does benefit a little from some oxidative stress however, having too much oxidative stress in your body has been linked to conditions like cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, and Parkinson's diseases.

7. Improves teeth and gum health

Drinking tea regularly is also known to help improve your dental health. Drinking tea on a daily basis can help give your body additional protection from cavities, gum disease, and bacteria that causes bad breath.

Green tea has many benefits and one of the least known benefits is the fact that it aids in controlling bacteria in your mouth. This in turn helps you reduce your bad breath and help fight against cavities. Another way that drinking green tea helps reduce the risk of cavities is by controlling the acidity of your saliva. Chinese tea is also known to help improve gum health and has been proven to be better at controlling bad breath than chewing gum, mints, and other natural solutions for bad breath.

Takeaway

Chinese tea is known to have many health options. Drinking green tea has been an ancient tradition kept by many civilisations especially the Chinese culture. The Chinese have known and talked about the benefits of drinking tea regularly.

However, it wasn't until recently that studies have proven many of these benefits to be true. Drinking tea is a regular part of Chinese culture and many people drink tea instead of other drinks with their meals. Doing this daily helps improve many peoples' mental and physical health.