A tall glass of fresh-brewed iced tea does more than cool you off on a sultry summer day.
For more than 4,000 years, people have been turning to tea — a beverage with a list of benefits even longer than a bride’s thank-you-note list. Tea is the world’s second most popular libation (right after good old H2O). In fact, the U.S. guzzles more than 55 billion cups a year. (Canada consumes “only” about 9 billion cups, but each person drinks more than each of his USA counterparts.) No wonder: In addition to its ability to cool you down, calm you down and perk you up, a tall glass of iced or a comforting cup of the hot stuff also can fight disease and help you slim down.
The latest on tea may be one of its best attributes yet: Its ability to improve mental focus and clarity. Tea is nature’s major source of the amino acid L-theanine. If you haven’t heard of L-theanine before, you will soon — it’s already being added to Gatorade Tiger and some varieties of Vitaminwater and SoBe Life Water. When paired with caffeine, this wonder compound decreases alpha wave activity in your brain. That’s good, because when you’re trying to focus on a challenging task — say, figuring out how to turn on “Wii Sports” when your kids aren’t around to help you — fewer alpha waves equal greater concentration.
In fact, downing two to three cups of tea within an hour or two of each other (the amino acid goes to work within 30 minutes) have been shown to make people more alert and focused. L-theanine has another upside: It makes you feel more relaxed and less stressed, which is why tea doesn’t give you that jittery feeling you get from other caffeinated drinks. But that’s not the only compound that does your health good. Made from the leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant, tea is loaded with flavonoids, compounds that help you stomp out disease-causing free radicals. Those health-promoting flavonoids (there are between 140 and 300 milligrams per cup of tea) are also what give tea its characteristic bitter taste.
So when you pour yourself any kind of tea — white, black, green or oolong (just not the herbal stuff), it’s also helping your health in these ways:
» It reduces your risk of heart attack and stroke: Flavonoids in tea decrease lousy LDL cholesterol and improve the elasticity of your blood vessels. Downing three cups a day (8 ounces each) may cut your risk of heart attack and stroke by 11 percent and 21 percent, respectively.
» It’s good for your pearly whites: Tea is rich in fluoride, needed for strong bones and teeth. Drinking tea has also been shown to decrease plaque. The same plaque that causes tooth decay also can contribute to the plaque in your arteries.
» It helps you stay slim: Not only is tea calorie-free, the green tea compound epicatechin gallate (aka EGCG) helps keep you from packing on fat and helps fire up your metabolism. Prefer Chinese oolong? It can up your calorie burn by 3 percent to 4 percent for up to two hours.
» Preventing cancer: In the lab, green tea has shaped up to be a nemesis to colon, liver, breast and prostate cancers.
The YOU Docs, Mike Roizen and Mehmet Oz, are authors of “YOU: Being Beautiful — The Owner’s Manual to Inner and Outer Beauty.” To submit questions and find ways to grow younger and healthier, visit realage.com, the docs’ online home.
