Cholesterol Levels

Drink Tea for Your Health

Drink Tea for Your Health

Since the ancient times, Chinese have been drinking tea.  They have believed and reported health benefits from tea. It has been used as a medicine in China for at least 4,000 years.  Today, there are numerous studies showing evidences improvements in health attributed to tea drinking.  More and more people drink tea for their health.

In the Journal of National Cancer Institute (published in 1994) they claimed that drinking tea has reduced the risk of esophageal cancer in Chinese men and women by a huge 60 percent.  While, the University of Purdue researchers claimed that green tea can prevent the growth of some cancer cells.  Tea has polyphenols that can reduce risk not only of esophageal cancer, but also gastric and skin cancers.

It can also help in the prevention or the spread of prostate cancer as discovered by the Center of Human Nutrition at UCLA.  It can also protect the body against cancer brought about by smoking.  Green tea and white tea are significant in fighting colon and lower stomach cancers.

Tea can also improve the ratio of good and bad cholesterol levels in your body.  The same polyphenols help in preventing blood from clotting and are responsible in lowering cholesterol levels.  Thus, drinking tea is a great help for heart disease patients.

These are not only the health benefits attributed to tea. According to Newcastle University’s Medicinal Plant Research Centre study, tea might also delay Alzheimer’s disease.  While, University of Tokyo stated that tea may play a role against fighting AIDS.

Aside from cancer it can also be helpful in rheumatoid arthritis, cardiovascular disease, infections, and impaired immune function.  There are also new studies claiming green tea helping those who would like to lose weight. Those who drink caffeine and green tea tend to burn more calories that those consuming caffeine only.

Because of its ability to fight and destroy bacteria, green tea can even fight against tooth decay.   It can kill dental plaque just as it can help prevent food poisoning.  In the market, there are also deodorants and skin creams with the component of green tea in it.

How can something be this good?

The secret is the polyphenols, especially the epigallocatechin galleate or EGCG.  ECGC is an anti-oxidant.  This powerful anti-oxidant can kill or prevent the growth of cancer cells without harming the healthy tissue and cells. It also has flavonoids and catechins which are also anti-oxidants.  It also has fluoride which is why it can fight tooth decay and helps control bad breath.

Different kind of teas has different levels on anti-oxidants.  White tea has more anti-oxidants compared to other tea.  Freshly brewed teas have more polyphenols than instant or bottled teas.  Thus, freshly-brewed teas have more anti-oxidants than instant teas.

Caffeine is also present in tea.  Caffeine levels or amount in brewed tea depends on the type of the tea.  Black tea has higher amount of caffeine than green tea.  The amount of caffeine also depends of length of time of brewing, and also on the water temperature.  If the leaves are exposed to higher water temperature, more caffeine are drained from the leaves.

The American Diabetic Association reported that a cup of tea has an average of 40 mg. of caffeine.  A cup of freshly brewed coffee has an average of 85 mg. of  caffeine.  An average of 350 mg. of caffeine consumption is still good for a healthy individual.

Currently, the only negative effect reported in drinking too much tea is insomnia.  This would be because of the caffeine content of tea.  So start brewing your tea, drink for your health.

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To your health and fitness,
Lisa Health

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The Healthy and Unhealthy Drinks

The Healthy and Unhealthy Drinks

Wondering why you don’t eat too much but still keep on gaining weight?  Then maybe you drink is not healthy at all.  There are hundreds of beverages out there that can boost your waistline.

You have to be cautious of what you drink.  Coffee, although it has significant health effects, can be making you fat.  If you drink coffee with full fat dairy and artificial flavorings, and do not forget about chocolate sprinkles, then it is highly likely that this is more detrimental than beneficial.

To maximize the health benefits of coffee, it is better to drink it plain or with soymilk.   Or you can just switch to green tea which is much better for you since it is a rich source of anti-oxidants.

Sugary summer drinks like margarita or a pina colada doubles your sugar and calorie intake.  A can or a glass of this can give you 800 calories.  If you’re looking for cool, alcoholic beverage to share in a hot night, then switch to red wine or light beer.

Red wine can reduce coronary heart disease and can lower cholesterol count, thus, reducing risk of high blood pressure or hypertension.  Red wine can also maintain the immune system.  It also have polyphenols which is an excellent anti-oxidant.

Polyphenols lower cholesterol levels, blood pressure, risks of cancer.  It also has anti-bacterial properties.  Aside form polyphenols, red wine also has flavonoids which is also an anti-oxidant.  Wine can also be associated in reducing stress.  It has a calming influence that helps the body to relax and unwind.

Before buying your juice drink, be careful on reading the label.  There is difference between “100 % juice” and “made with real juice”.  There can be a big amount of artificial sweeteners and big amount of calories included in your juice drink.  Drinking real juice drink can give you the necessary nutrients and vitamins, while there re juice drink which is not different from drinking a glass of sugared water.

Whether it is diet or regular soda, soda still has no nutritional value.  Unfortunately, this unhealthy drink is the leading and most favorite beverage.  There are studies showing soda related to obesity.  Soda is known to be high in calories and sugar.  Even diet soda shows no significant difference in sugar and calories.  Both regular and diet sodas are associated to weight gain.

Drinking soda has also been related to tooth decay.  It is still attributed to high consumption of sugars which is present in all soda drinks.  Caffeine is also present in sodas.  So children who drink too much sodas can develop caffeine dependence.  This may interfere with the development of the brain of children.  Although, this is not yet proven, several medical researchers and health care professionals are expressing concern.

Unfortunately, there are more of unhealthy drinks than healthy drinks out there in the market.  More and more people are forgetting to focus on healthy drinking.  Yes, we try to be cautious with what we eat but we still neglect what we drink.  Then definitely, we will be missing our healthy mark.

So if you would like to create your own drinks minus the sugar and calories, then definitely go ahead.  There are health guides and magazines, even the internet, can help you concoct a savory but healthy drink without the risk factors.

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