Tea & Health

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Doug Balentine, Director of Nutrition Services for Lipton/Unilever, for World Tea News. Here's an excerpt of our Q&A, which was based around tearoom customers' FAQs:

1. Is green tea the healthiest kind?
“When green, oolong and black teas are studied together, they have similar benefits. However, if you’re particularly looking to get catechins (antioxidants that give tea its brisk flavor), then green is a better source than black.”

2. I heard that tea is a miracle cure for (obesity, cancer, etc.). Is that true?
“The claims people are making about the health benefits of tea are not reflective of the balance of the science. While there is science in many areas either from animal studies or poorly done clinical or population-based studies, people are using single studies to draw conclusions rather than looking at the totality of the evidence.”

3. What’s it proven to do?
“The strongest evidence shows that regular tea drinking is associated with improving blood vessel function. While the reasons for this benefit are not fully understood, the science does not support that is has a cholesterol-lowering effect.”


You can read the remainder on World Tea News.