Chinese tea is honored with the title of “Nation Drink” in China. A large number of modern scientific studies have confirmed that tea does contain some biochemical components closely related to human health.
Table of Contents
- The Components of Tea
- Benefits of Green Tea
- Benefits of Black Tea
- Benefits of Oolong Tea
- Benefits of White Tea
- Benefits of Yellow Tea
- Benefits of Dark Tea
The Components of Tea
The main components with pharmacological effects are as follows:
Tea Polyphenol
The tea polyphenol is the most abundant soluble component in tea and is an important substance for tea to exert its health care function.
It has a lot of effects, such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, reducing the incidents of cardiovascular disease, preventing cancer, preventing blood lipids, changing the ecology of intestinal flora, and so on.
Tea Pigment
The tea pigment is a kind of water-soluble phenolic pigment rich in the tea. It mainly includes theaflavin, thearubigins, and theabrownin. They have good effects of anti-cancer and anti-aging.
Tea Polysaccharide
The tea polysaccharide is an acidic glycoprotein combined with a larger number of mineral elements, of which the protein is mainly composed of about 20 common amino acids.
Theanine
The theanine is a unique free amino acid in tea. Theanine can improve brain function and enhance memory and learning ability. It has a preventive effect on Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.
Y-Aminobutyric Acid
The main effect of Y-Aminobutyric acid is reducing blood pressure and improving blood circulation.
Vitamins and Trace Elements
Tea includes vitamin A, vitamin B, vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin E, vitamin K, and vitamin P. Green tea and white tea have higher vitamin C content.
Tea contains many trace elements such as potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, zinc, manganese, fluorine, and phosphorus. Some teas are rich in selenium, which has anti-cancer and antioxidant effects.
Proteins, Carbohydrates, and Lipids
The content of amino acids is about 5% in green tea and 2%-4% in other teas. Amino acids play an important role in promoting human growth and enhancing hematopoietic function.
Although the content of carbohydrate in tea is up to 30%, most of them are water-insoluble polysaccharides, and only 4%-5% of them are water-soluble. Therefore, tea is considered a low-calorie beverage, suitable for diabetics and other sugar abstainers.
The lipids content of tea is only 2%-3%. It is the energy and important component of the organism.
According to different processing technology and the variety of tea trees, some teas can produce unique chemical substances, which have many other health effects.
Benefits of Green Tea
Green tea is a kind of unfermented tea, which retains many natural substances of the fresh leaves, containing more tea polyphenols, catechins, chlorophyll, vitamins, and other nutrients.
These natural nutrients in green tea have special effects of anti-aging, anti-cancer, antibacterial, and anti-inflammatory.
EGCG (Epigallocatechin Gallate) in green tea can play a part in the role of insulin. EGCG can significantly reduce blood sugar, which is helpful to treat diabetes.
Main benefits:
- Anti-aging
- Anti-cancer
- Antibacterial
- Anti-inflammatory
- Lower blood sugar
- Lower blood lipids
Other benefits:
- Detox
- Diuretic
- Refresh
- Skincare
- Weight loss
- Protect teeth and eyesight
- Inhibit cardiovascular disease
Benefits of Black Tea
Black tea is a kind of half-fermented tea. During the processing of black tea, many chemical reactions based on tea polyphenols occur. The chemical substances in the tea leaves change a lot.
The polyphenols reduce by more than 90%, and new components such as theaflavins and thearubigins are produced. The fragrant substances increase significantly compared with fresh leaves.
Theaflavins, known as “soft gold” in tea, have a good function of lowering blood lipid and cholesterol and have no toxic side effects. Thearubigins are a powerful antioxidant, which can help the body resist biological oxidation.
Main benefits:
- Anti-aging
- Vasodilation
- Nourish stomach
- Lower cholesterol
- Lower blood lipids
- Inhibit cardiovascular disease
Other benefits:
- Detox
- Diuretic
- Anti-cancer
- Antibacterial
- Anti-inflammatory
- Help digestion
- Strengthen bones
- Increase appetite
- Reduce the incidence of myocardial infarction
Benefits of Oolong Tea
Oolong tea also called Wulong tea is a kind of half-fermented tea.
Oolong tea contains more than 450 kinds of organic chemical components and more than 40 kinds of inorganic mineral elements. The organic and inorganic substances contain many effective components.
Oolong tea has a good effect of dissolving fat to lose weight. It is rich in tannic acid, which is closely related to the metabolism of fat.
Oolong tea can promote fat combustion and reduce fat accumulation. It also has good effects of anti-cancer, anti-aging, lowering blood lipids and cholesterol.
Main benefits:
- Anti-cancer
- Anti-aging
- Weight loss
- Lower cholesterol
- Lower blood lipids
Other benefits:
- Detox
- Diuretic
- Refresh
- Antibacterial
- Help digestion
- Anti-inflammatory
- Eliminate fatigue
- Improve hearing
Benefits of White Tea
White tea is a kind of slightly fermented tea. It is made with the closest to nature and the least process among these six types of Chinese tea.
The chemical components of white tea are generally close to that of green tea. But white tea is rich in more active enzymes and has a good pharmacological effect.
White tea has good effects of anti-cancer, detox, protecting the liver, anti-inflammatory, and antibacterial. Especially, the aged white tea can be used as a fever-reducing drug. White tea is widely regarded as good medicine for measles in North China.
White tea is rich in tea polysaccharides, which can effectively lower blood sugar. It is also rich in flavonoids, which can protect the liver and accelerate liver detoxification.
Main benefits:
- Detox
- Anti-cancer
- Antibacterial
- Anti-inflammatory
- Protect the liver
- Lower blood sugar
Other benefits:
- Diuretic
- Refresh
- Clear heat
- Anti-aging
- Improve eyesight
- Eliminate fatigue
Benefits of Yellow Tea
Yellow tea is also a slightly fermented tea, but its degree of fermentation is a little more than white tea’s.
There is a process called “yellowing” in the production of yellow tea, which promotes the partial oxidation of tea polyphenols, chlorophyll, and other substances.
Yellow tea is rich in amino acids, soluble sugar, trace elements, vitamins, and other nutrients.
Main benefits:
- Detox
- Anti-cancer
- Help digestion
- Nourish stomach
- Increase appetite
Other benefits:
- Diuretic
- Refresh
- Clear heat
- Anti-aging
- Weight loss
- Antibacterial
- Anti-inflammatory
- Eliminate fatigue
Benefits of Dark Tea
Dark tea is a kind of post-fermented tea. The degree of fermentation of dark tea is higher than that of black tea. A lot of new chemical components are produced. Some dark teas can produce a beneficial bacteria called Golden Flower Bacteria (Eurotium Cristatum), which has good effects on anti-tumor and anti-aging.
Dark tea is a necessity of meat-eating people in northern China. It has good effects of regulating fat metabolism, helping digestion, and nourishing the stomach. Dark tea also has a strong antibacterial and anti-inflammatoryeffect.
Main benefits:
- Anti-cancer
- Help digestion
- Antibacterial
- Anti-inflammatory
- Nourish stomach
Other benefits:
- Detox
- Diuretic
- Anti-aging
- Weight loss
- Lower blood sugar
- Lower blood lipids
- Lower blood pressure
Conclusion
As you can see above, these six types of tea have many of the same benefits. The main benefits of different teas are different, mainly because the processing technology makes the tea produce different chemical components.