Can I offer you a glezele tey (Yiddish for a little glass of tea)? In days gone by, tea was a way of life among Eastern European Jews. As Jewish food historian Rabbi Gil Marks writes in his Encyclopedia of Jewish Food, families would laugh and chat over glasses of tea, and rabbinic scholars would discuss points of law. Tea was so ingrained into the fabric of life that Eastern Europeans typically drank five to six cups per day, and frequently more.
In the past few decades, nutritional science has been catching up to the innate wisdom of yesteryear’s culture. Some observers have noted that tea is undergoing a renaissance – not just as an enjoyable beverage but as a health-promoting one. Now we know that the world’s second most popular beverage, after water, is a powerhouse of polyphenols – antioxidants that have anticancer and cardio-protective benefits. Many studies are emerging that suggest that tea can also help with diabetes, weight management, cholesterol lowering, bone density, and mental alertness.
WebMD, in a recent article on tea and health, quoted dietician Katherine Tallmadge on the advantages of tea over coffee: “There doesn’t seem to be a downside to tea,” she said. “It’s a great alternative to coffee drinking. First, tea has less caffeine, and it’s pretty well established that the compounds in tea – their flavonoids – are good for the heart and may reduce cancer.”
Another plus: The Tea Council of the U.S.A. says that tea prepared at home costs only three cents per cup, and that tea remains one of the most economical beverages available.
In a recent interview with The Atlantic, nutrition researcher Dr. Jeffrey Blumberg of Tufts University offered an interesting perspective on the health benefits of tea: “It’s really important to remember that tea is a plant….” he said. “We don’t think of tea as the type of green leafy vegetables typically promoted by the USDA … but the flavonoids extracted from tea leaves are similar to the beneficial phytochemicals found in fruits and vegetables. If we can’t get Americans to eat the recommended daily amounts of fruits and vegetables…why not let tea count as one or two servings?”
As a nutritionist, I am in total agreement with Blumberg, who happens to really know his tea: He chaired the Fifty International Scientific Symposium on Tea and Human Health, held in Washington, DC, this past September.
"We don’t think of tea as the type of green leafy vegetables typically promoted by the USDA. If we can’t get Americans to eat the recommended daily amounts of fruits and vegetables…why not let tea count as one or two servings?"
A Thumbnail History of Tea
True tea comes from a three-foot-high, warm-weather evergreen known as Camellia sinensis. The flavor of tea depends on the variety, growing conditions, and processing methods. Herbalist Tammy Safi explains in her book Healthy Teas that teas are classified by size and shape of the processed leaf, by how it is processed, and by the country or district where it is grown. Some of the main exporters of tea are China, India, Sri Lanka (formerly known as Ceylon), and Japan.
Tea was first enjoyed as a beverage in ancient China. It became popular in India centuries later, and then became “revered” in Japan, says Safi. It was brought to Europe in the 1500s. The U.S. has also played a role in tea history: In the early 1900s, the tea bag was invented by Thomas Sullivan, a New York tea importer.
Today, this timeless beverage has truly come of age commercially. There are hundreds of different grades, qualities, and varieties of tea available in stores worldwide. As with wine, cheese, and chocolate connoisseurs, there are dedicated tea enthusiasts who take their tea very seriously.
Tea and Health
In this article, I’ll focus only on the three main “real” teas, teas made from the Camellia sinensis plant. These include black, green, and white tea. (A fourth type, oolong, is somewhere between black and green, but it’s less common, so we’ll skip it for now.) In a future article, we’ll examine other healthful beverages that are considered teas, such as Tulsi and Rooibos, but derive from other types of plants. These are generally referred to as herbal teas.
Whether a tea is green, black, or white depends on the degree of processing the leaves undergo after they are harvested. Here’s the gist of nutritionist Jonny Bowden’s quick summary from his book The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth: Black tea is fully fermented. Green tea is not fermented at all, but pan-fried and dried. White tea is barely processed, made from the immature tea leaves that are picked right before the buds have fully opened. The leaves are dried when there is still white silver fuzz on them, hence the name.
Black tea: This type of tea, certainly the best-known to our grandparents, and still to many of us today, accounts for almost 80 percent of the tea consumed worldwide.
Until recently, black tea was not usually talked about as a health food. Green tea got all the press, for its cancer-fighting properties. The conventional wisdom was that since black tea was more processed, it had less of the beneficial compounds found in green tea. However, researchers now know that the fermentation process used in making black tea produces some unique antioxidants all its own, with scientific names like teaflavins and biflavonals. Bowden cites studies showing that the teaflavins found in black tea may have even greater antioxidant activity than the compounds in green tea. Also of note, a USDA study published in the Journal of Nutrition in 2003 found that people who drank black tea had reduced total and LDL cholesterol. Another trial discussed by Bowden, published in 2003 in the American Journal of Cardiology, suggested that black tea, within only hours of its being consumed, could improve blood flow in the coronary arteries.
In a similar vein, at this year’s scientific tea symposium, an Italian researcher reported results from a small clinical trial showing that black tea could counteract the negative effects of a heavy meal on blood pressure and blood flow in the arteries.
Green tea: The buzz about green tea is that it contains a special kind of polyphenol (a beneficial class of compounds found in fruits and vegetables) known as EGCG. Researchers believe it is EGCG that is responsible for the anticancer effects of green tea. Numerous lab studies have shown that these compounds inhibit the growth of cancer cells. Also, the American Institute for Cancer Research notes that epidemiologic studies that track people’s diets and their health over many years have linked regular consumption of green tea with a lower risk of several types of cancer. This effect is seen especially in populations in Asia, where green tea is consumed most heavily.
Green tea, like its cousin black tea, can also lower cholesterol and triglycerides. A Japanese study that followed more than 40,000 adults found that those who drank more than five cups per day of green tea had a 26 percent lower risk of death from heart attack or stroke, compared with those who drank less than one cup per day. According to experts at Harvard Medical School, this study and several others provide compelling evidence of green tea’s heart-protective effects.
White tea: Although it’s been sipped for centuries, especially in China, exotic white tea has come under scientific investigation only in recent years. It’s the least processed of all tea, less available, and most costly, but it has been found to contain the highest overall levels of antioxidants. Some varieties of white tea may contain less caffeine than green tea, and more theanine. This amino acid, known for its ability to promote relaxation, balances the energizing effect of the caffeine found in tea. Coffee, rich in caffeine, contains no theanine at all.
Recent studies at Pace University have focused on white tea’s ability to kill bacteria, viruses, and fungi. Also, researchers at Kingston University in London reported in 2009 that white tea reduces inflammation associated with rheumatoid arthritis, and also has positive effects against some cancers and age-related wrinkles. Lastly, some human trials have found drinking white tea can improve symptoms of diabetes by reducing fasting and after-meal levels of blood sugar.
More definitive research on tea’s health benefits is needed. But given the evidence to date, most experts recommend drinking two to four cups per day of black, green, or white tea. All in all, I like the advice of Dr. Jeffrey Blumberg, the tea symposium chairman. Quoted in USA Today, he said: “If you don’t drink tea, you should start. It’s really delicious. It’s convenient.” I agree: It’s teatime.â—†
Lauren Mirkin, CNS, LDN, LGPC, is a licensed nutritionist and counselor. She provides nutritional counseling at the Johns Hopkins Integrative Medicine and Digestive Center at Green Spring Station. Contact her at 443-326-7023 or holisticnutritionhelp@gmail.com.
