It's confused for people to realize benefits of tea. First of all we may have to classify tea in modern times.
There are multiple classification methods for teas. Currently the prevailing method is classifying the teas into “'basic teas" and“reprocessed teas”, Basic teas can be classified into green tea, dark tea, white tea, cyan tea (Oolong tea) and black tea (which is in general called “red tea” in China) according to the processing principles and quality features. The reprocessed teas mainly refer to scented teas and compressed teas, etc.
Perhaps people doesn't realize benefits of tea just because people don't know what the chemical components of tea include. In fact over 700 different chemical compounds have been identified in tea. Fresh tea leaves harvested from tea plants contain 75%~78% moisture, and the rest 22%-25% dry masses consist of orgamic and inorganic components which mainly include the following (dry weight) :
| Components | Value |
| protein | 20%-30% |
| osacharide | 20%-25% |
| tea polyphenols | 10%-25% |
| lipids | 8% |
| alkaloids | 3%-5% |
| free amino acids | 2%-7% |
| organic acids | 3% |
| pigments | 1% |
| vitamins | 0.6%-1.0% |
| aromatic substances | 0.005%-0.03% |
Therefore we can understand what effects of tea has. Research has shown that tea has 23 main effects:
- quenching thirst;,
- relieving fatigue;
- relieving tension;
- strengthening heart;
- diuretic,
- preventing and lowering high blood pressure,
- preventing and lowering hyperglycaemia;
- protecting the liver,
- facilitating bowel movement;
- relieving greasy taste;
- combining to detoxify heavy metals (such as lead, arsenic);
- antibacterial activity,
- diminishing inflammation;
- antiviral;
- preventing gastrointestinal cancer, breast cancer, prostate cancerand lung cancer,
- antioxidant;
- anti-radiation;
- preventingdental caries;
- relieving hangover,
- preventing ophthalmic diseases;
- preventing calculus,
- preventing atherosclerosis;
- preventing neurodegeneration;
We can see there are so many effects that teas can bring to us. In daily routine people care about their body shape. Population survey and intervention studies found that tea is good for lipid-lowering, but also it has an obvious effect on losing weight. Drinking tea regularly can significantly improve the property of blood lipid and reduce cholesterol and triglyceride levels in the blood, In China, there are ancient records about tea's effect on losing weight, such as “good for losing weight”“dissolving oil”, “frequent and long-lasting tea drinking making thinner" and so on, The lipid-lowering effect of tea is due to the comprehensive functions of various active ingredients (tea polyphenols, caffeine, vitamins, amino acids, etc.). The reason for obesity is that the absorption and synthesis of fat surpass its catabolism in fat cells, Tea polyphenols can decrease the absorption of fat of foods, inhibit the activity of enzymes (glycosidase, lipase, amylase, etc.) in the digestive tract, promote intestinal peristalsis and lipid excretion, increase energy expenditure in the mitochondrion and finally help to lose weight.
So now you can understand tea is really benefitial to our health. If you are interesting to further try some tea, please check it out from links: Green Tea Black Tea Pu'er Tea Oolong Tea