Camellia sinensis (The Tea Plant)

Health Benefits

The world’s most popular beverage has been linked in some studies to fighting cancer and is considered to be beneficial in improving heart health, modifying cholesterol and suppressing appetite, especially in its higher quality whole leaf form. Tea has been shown in studies to also maintain and improve bone density when consumed regularly over many years. Furthermore, it has been shown to prevent tooth decay. Flavonoids, which are present in tea, are the prime constituents that act as anti-oxidants to fight the presence of free radicals in the human body, which cause illness and aging. Theanine is also available in tea. It calms the body while inducing a feeling of mental alertness. Caffeine, which may over-stimulate the body at times, can be significantly reduced by steeping tea leaves for a little under a minute and pouring out the “first tea.” This has the added benefit of opening the tea leaves to release the most beneficial chemistry of the plant in the second and subsequent infusions.

Further Magnify the Benefits of Tea

Place time and effort in these five ways:

  1. Apply self-renewal by starting each day with a cup or a pot of tea.
  2. Observe going in and slowing down within the heart as you sip your tea.
  3. Practice as “an act of creation” the attention you experience—the experience of listening and looking.
  4. Perform a ritual that may include reading poetry or simply observing an object of beauty.
  5. Cultivate an attitude of gratefulness. Prepare and maintain the simplicity of cheerfulness within. Then gently release and charm the world, your world. Then perhaps, release just a tiny expression of generosity toward others as you feel and sense the in fuller awareness a wider circle in community.

Related Links

Below are links to official reports on the health benefits of tea.

Green Tea and Arthritis

Tea Helps Prevent Arthritis
Science Daily

Tea and Cancer Prevention

Topline on Tea
The Tea Council

Tomatoes, Green Tea and Cancer
P&S Hournal of Columbia University

Tea and Heart Disease

Tea Shows Anitoxidant Benefits
American Association for the Advancement of Science

 

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