Tea is a popular beverage all around the world, along with coffee. Most enjoy drinking it after having a meal and then there are also those who drink it any time of the day. Research suggests that drinking an abundance of tea can significantly affect the body, both positively and negatively.

Kinds of Tea

There are several varieties of tea, including herbal tea, white tea and green tea. An herbal tea is a mixture that can be composed of fresh flowers or dried ones. Also known as Ptisan, this kind of tea is not made from tea leaves. White tea is made from a mixture of young tea leaves and new growing buds of the Camelia sinensis plant. Green tea is also made from the Camelia sinensis plant, its difference from the White tea being that it has undergone minimal oxidation when it was being processed.

Benefits of Drinking Tea

Research and studies conducted on tea drinkers suggest that tea contributes to good health by providing the body with enough levels of antioxidants to fight off certain cancers. It has also been suggested that drinking tea can increase a person’s endurance during exercise by improving the body’s fat metabolism. All these supposed health benefits were concluded based on research. However, there has not been solid proof yet that these benefits are indeed caused by drinking tea.

Risks of Drinking Tea

Drinking a lot of tea might cause problems to the body, like nutritional ones. These possible health problems are caused by the binding activities of polyphenols present in tea. The caffeine that is present in it is also a major contributor to health problems which can be caused by drinking tea.

Tannins, polyphenols which are found in tea, reduce the body’s ability to absorb minerals like iron. Thus, drinking too much tea can result in the body not absorbing enough iron. This could then lead to developing medical conditions like anemia. To prevent this from happening, yet still continue to enjoy tea, experts suggest drinking tea during meals. Another suggestion is to add a little amount of lemon to tea before drinking it. Vitamin C helps offset the undesirable effect of tannin in terms of mineral absorption.

Tea also contains oxalates. These are organic acids that can fuse with the calcium in the body, leading to the formation of calcium oxalate stones in the kidneys. This, however, is a rare occurrence. However, for people who are susceptible to kidney stone formation, drinking tea may increase the possibility.