Lower your blood pressure with black tea!
We're always reading and talking about green tea health benefits to the extent that it's sometimes easy to forget the fact that all varieties of tea come from the same plant and contain similar polyphenol compounds. The main difference between green and white teas as compared to oolong and black teas relates to the oxidation of catechins in green tea (the most abundant being epigallocatechin gallate, or EGCG for short) into theaflavins and thearubigins in the darker teas, which affects flavor and color but may not have as large of a bearing on health benefits as previously thought. For us black tea lovers, what could be better than research, such as this 2001 study published in The Journal of Nutrition, suggesting that the antioxidants in green and black are equally beneficial?
Well, it's nice to also have data on the real world implications of consuming our beloved beverage and this week black tea has been all over the news for its blood pressure lowering abilities. This recent Australian study in the Archives of Internal Medicine showed a 2-3 point drop in systolic and diastolic blood pressure over six months when three cups of black tea were consumed a day. Black tea also performed well alongside green tea in reducing body fat and improving glucose tolerance in another Australian study from 2009.
The overall take-away from this seems to be the same thing we've been telling customers for awhile now, which is to drink the tea you enjoy rather than drinking a specific type you may not prefer solely for medicinal reasons. This way the time you take during your day to enjoy a pot of tea always remains a pleasure and as the former study's lead author John Hodgson points out, "the drop [in blood pressure] is a bonus." It's certainly a bonus any of us are happy to take, alongside our lovely pot of single-estate Assam!
Tags: Black Tea Tea and Health
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