Some people don't need to drink black tea or coffee to wake up and be ready for the
day.
But then there are the rest of us.
Black tea offers some advantages over coffee, depending on your personal needs.
Here's what happens if you drink black tea every day.
Any coffee drinker knows that bad breath is the hoppy handmaiden that comes with the caffeinated
step in your stride.
If you’re slamming back a few cups of Joe on a daily basis, you may even be sporting
a few mints in your pocket to hide the smell.
But black tea turns your mouth into a much nicer place to be.
According to Dr. Mike Golpa, a dental CEO:
"Black tea helps fight bad breath.
The polyphenols present in black tea kill the bacteria most commonly at fault for bad
breath."
Of course, if you pour a bit of leche into your morning cup of Earl Gray, it may be a
little trickier to land a morning makeout session without incident.
Golpa’s conclusion was backed up by researchers at the University of Illinois.
These Midwestern minds realized the same thing in 2003 when they incubated three species
of bacteria with the same polyphenols found in tea.
These polyphenols slowed bacteria growth by an impressive 30 percent, which is enough
to make your mouth happy.
It’s morning.
You drink black tea.
You wake up.
You move.
You move again.
Maybe you sing or dance.
Maybe you see beyond time.
You feel a great deal of energy!
Why is this?
That’s because black tea has a stimulant effect from the caffeine.
But that isn’t all the caffeine does!
According to registered dietician Hillary Cecere:
"You may experience more energy and even a reduced appetite from the caffeine content
found in black tea.
Caffeine acts as a short term stimulate which can provide positive effects on energy level,
mood and alertness."
Think of caffeine as that spare compact hiding in your purse when that promising Tinder match
asks for a last minute date.
In addition to giving you a brief energy boost, drinking a few cups of black tea each day
may just help you to shed a few unwanted pounds.
Cecere had more to say:
"[Black tea] has also been shown to temporarily reduce appetite which can be beneficial to
weight loss efforts.”
But watch your diet!
Be careful with your breakfast!
Avoid the temptation of donuts, even if you find yourself walking past a bakery with a
choir of glazed crullers singing your name!
Nobody likes a sore throat.
Aside from the constant pain and the wince-heavy swallowing, a sore throat can knock you off
your game and send you to the doctor’s office.
Do not pass go.
Do not collect $200.
If you’re susceptible to a sore throat or you want to reduce your chances of talking
like Miley Cyrus, a daily cup of black tea may be just the trick!
According to Dr. Mike Golpa:
"Black tea fights oral infections.
The same polyphenols that fight bad breath fight off the bacteria that can cause strep
throat."
But let’s say you’re in bed with a bad case of strep.
Black tea can help you here too!
According to Tufts University antioxidants researcher Diane McKay:
"For colds and sore throat, a warm cup of any kind of tea will likely help soothe a
sore throat immediately.
Teas made from Camellia sinensis, i.e., black, green and oolong, have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory
properties that may help alleviate symptoms."
Cookies.
Candy.
Cakes.
Soda.
What do these all have in common?
Yes, you’ll find them all in a game of Candy Crush.
But think again.
They also all contain sugar, of course!
Sugar, that tasty cane-derived sweetener that makes food taste better.
But everyone knows that if you eat too much sugar, it can lead to weight gain, obesity,
and metabolic syndrome!
If you’re addicted to sugar -- and, hey, who isn’t from time to time?
-- black tea’s got your back!
If you have diabetes, black tea can help you stay on top of your sugar frenzy.
Black tea can even help you control your condition.
According to a study in the Journal of Food Science, the derivatives contained within
black tea may help in the fight against sugar!
According to lead researcher Haixia Chen:
"Many efforts have been made to search for effect ive glucose inhibitors from natural
materials.
There is a potential for exploitation of black tea polysaccharide in managing diabetes."
Black tea!
The Jacqueline Carlyle to sugar’s Jane Sloan!
Dentists.
They check our mouths, ensure our oral health, and make sure we have beautiful smiles.
But let’s face the facts.
A dental appointment can be more unpleasant than a trip to the DMV.
Enter black tea.
A beverage that may keep you from one too many visits to the dentist’s chair.
As noted by Dr. Mike Golpa :
"Black tea fights cavities.
Tea is a natural source of fluoride.
Combine that with the tannic acids in tea that help naturally strengthen tooth enamel
and you have a natural defense against cavities."
But, just to be clear, black tea isn’t a substitute for regular trips to the dentist
and it doesn’t give you a free ride to stop flossing.
Think of black tea as a soft cashmere fringe wrap to wrap around your shoulders in the
winter.
According to the Mayo Clinic, you should still brush your teeth twice a day, floss, avoid
sugars, and have regular checkups.
Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States.
According to the CDC, over 647,000 Americans passed away from a heart condition in 2017
alone.
That’s more deaths than cancer, accidents, or lung disease.
We don’t want to depress you.
But with statistics like that, you’re going to want to keep your heart beating happier
than a club mix at a wedding reception.
For this, we can rely on the sage advice of registered dietician Hillary Cecere:
"You may have a healthier heart.
Black tea is a good source of group of plant chemicals called flavonoids.
Research suggests that flavonoids may help reduce inflammation, may lower harmful LDL
cholesterol and may reduce the risk of heart disease."
But that’s not all!
According to a study in PLOS One, drinking black tea also slightly decreases your blood
pressure.
You may have heard that the human attention span has decreased to eight seconds.
That’s one second shorter than a goldfish.
Well, it turns out that statistic is dodgy at best.
In an interview with the BBC, Professor Felicity Huntingford had this to say about those little
carps swimming in your aquarium:
"They've become a model system for studying the process of learning and the process of
memory formation, exactly because they have a memory and because they learn.”
But let’s swim away from the fish and the dubious statistics.
It can be difficult to focus in a world with constant phone notifications and numerous
distractions.
And on this front, black tea is still our dependable beverage in the war for greater
wellbeing!
Dr. Uma Naidoo, director of nutritional and lifestyle psychiatry at Massachusetts General
Hospital, had this to say in Reader’s Digest :
"Theanine is an amino acid that is virtually unique to tea.
It may also improve attention by relaxing the brain, but stimulating it when it is time
to focus."
That’s right!
Theanine.
It’s more popular than lysine and dresses better than tryptophan.
It’s such a hip protein that People Magazine voted Theanine the Sexiest Amino Acid Alive
six years in a row!
And you’ll find it in black tea.
IBS?
Unwanted gas?
We won’t tell anyone.
Your digestive issues are safe with us!
But let’s say that you do have something like this.
It turns out that black tea may be able to help keep your bubbling insides under natural
control!
Once again, we must turn our attention to registered dietician Hillary Cecere:
"You may have less digestive issues.
The tannins found in black tea may soothe the intestinal tract which can reduce stomach
upset and diarrhea."
If you want smooth digestion, you’re going to need a healthy bacterial balance.
And, according to a study in Food Reviews International, black tea’s dietary polyphenols
promote the growth of good bacteria!
Meanwhile, the bad bacteria, the true villains of your stomach like Salmonella and H. pylori,
will be inhibited by regular doses of black tea.
That’s good for your overall gut!
Of course, adding dairy milk to tea may have adverse results, especially if you’re lactose
intolerant.
But then that’s why the gods on Mount Olympus created non-dairy creamer options like soy
milk.
Maybe grandma had Alzheimer’s or your great uncle had Parkinson’s.
Drinking black tea every day can help reduce the family risk!
In an interview with Science Daily, Feng Lei, a professor at the NUS Yong Loo Lin School
of Medicine, said:
"Our results offer the first evidence of positive contribution of tea drinking to brain structure,
and suggest that drinking tea regularly has a protective effect against age-related decline
in brain organization.”
Lei and his team also found that tea drinkers had better cognitive function compared to
non-tea drinkers, saying,
"Our current results relating to brain network indirectly support our previous findings by
showing that the positive effects of regular tea drinking are the result of improved brain
organization brought about by preventing disruption to interregional connections."
Black tea is basically nectar for your brain!
Thanks to the miracles of modern medicine, the number of cancer survivors living in the
United States increases each year.
That’s according to the American Cancer Society.
With regular checkups and preventative efforts, you stand a greater chance of early detection,
regardless of whether you’ve had cancer or not.
But black tea also carries some useful qualities that will keep you healthy.
Here’s what dietician Hillary Cecere had this to say:
"The polyphenols found in black tea have antioxidant properties that help prevent the formation
of certain types of cancer cells."
Of course, you shouldn’t just drink black tea to protect you or consider this a form
of medication.
It’s important to see a doctor.
Still, according to Healthline, a little extra black tea does help in the fight against cancer
cells.
According to the World Health Organization, stroke is the second leading cause of death
worldwide.
But the CDC reports that 80% of strokes are preventable.
You can eat a healthy diet, get regular exercise, keep your blood pressure low, and avoid smoking,
and you stand a fairly decent chance of reducing your risk of stroke.
But black tea junkies have good reason to celebrate.
Because a study in the Annals of Epidemiology concluded that your risk of stroke decreases
by 32 percent if you drink four or more cups of black tea each day.
Sure, that’s a lot of trips to the bathroom.
But this was a huge study.
The scientists followed 74,961 people over ten years.
So if you’re looking for a new ritual to take up for a new decade, why not drink black
tea?
Antioxidants.
No, these aren’t something you’ll find in the laundromat.
But they are an important part of your diet!
Healthline reports that antioxidants have a wide variety of health benefits.
They can help remove cells damaged by disease.
They also keep free radicals in check.
Free radicals try and steal electrons from other cells.
Antioxidants make sure that there are plenty of electrons to spare, and are very helpful
in maintaining our overall health.
Which is why they are among the most important substances inside you.
Black tea is rich in antioxidants, which also help reduce LDL cholesterol and blood sugar
levels.
Sure, you can get antioxidant supplements.
But why accept a substitute when you can get the real thing from black tea?
Black tea comes with numerous benefits.
But as with anything in life, black tea also comes saddled with a few risks.
Black tea contains catechins, which may make it difficult to absorb iron.
For iron-rich foods like tofu, spinach, quinoa, and dark chocolate, you may want to cut back
on black tea.
As orthopedic surgeon Dr. Anthony Kouri explained in Reader’s Digest:
"Though most healthy people will not be affected by this, those who have iron deficiency or
anemia should abstain from large amounts of [catechin-rich] green tea.”
And if you drink black tea every day, it could raise your risk of bleeding.
Plastic surgeon Michelle Lee agrees:
"It makes you more prone to bruising.
I require all my patients to stop drinking tea two to three weeks before surgery."
If black tea becomes a regular part of your life, you may want to check with your doctor
to see if it’s safe for you to drink -- especially if you take heart medications or have high
blood pressure.
Black tea is great.
But it’s always possible to have too much of anything.
In extreme cases, black tea can cause kidney failure.
A 56-year-old man in Arkansas had to go on dialysis because he drank nearly a gallon
of iced tea every day.
Dr. Scott Youngquist, an emergency physician at the University of Utah Health, said in
a blog post:
"Iced tea is full of oxalic acid, which, when taken in excess, deposits in your kidneys
and mucks up the work of removing waste from the blood.
This patient was drinking 16 8-ounce glasses of iced tea per day for an unknown period
of time.
This created a load of oxalic acid that his kidneys couldn't handle, leading to renal
failure."
In other words, don’t try to beat any Guinness world records.
So how much should you drink?
We return back to dental CEO Dr. Mike Golpa for the last word:
"Overall, two to three cups of black tea a day can have many benefits toward making your
mouth, and your body, a happier, healthier place.”
Caffeinated black tea is one of several beverages pregnant women should avoid drinking.
So talk to your doctor if you have any questions.
Check out one of our newest videos right here!
Plus, even more List videos about your favorite stuff are coming soon.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss a single one.