Speaking of tea, it has a history of 5,000 years. China has always been a country of etiquette. Hospitality treats guests with tea, and friends treat them with tea. Tea inherits the etiquette and harmony of the Chinese people. Folks have firewood, rice, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar and tea. Tea is important in people's daily life, and everyone drinks tea regardless of whether they are rich or poor. Tea can be used as a drink, containing a variety of beneficial ingredients and has health benefits.

1. Exciting effect: The caffeine in tea can excite the central nervous system, helping people to cheer up, improve thinking, eliminate fatigue, and improve work efficiency.

2. Diuretic effect: Caffeine and theophylline in tea have diuretic effect and are used to treat edema and hydrodemuloma. The detoxification and diuretic effects of green tea sugar water can be used to treat acute jaundice hepatitis.

3. Cardiotonic and antispasmodic effects: Caffeine has the effects of strengthening the heart, relieving spasms, and relaxing smooth muscles. It can relieve bronchospasm and promote blood circulation. It is a good auxiliary drug for the treatment of bronchial asthma, cough and phlegm, and myocardial infarction.

4. Inhibit arteriosclerosis: Tea polyphenols and vitamin C in tea can activate blood circulation and remove blood stasis to prevent arteriosclerosis, so people who drink tea regularly have a lower incidence of hypertension and coronary heart disease.

5. Antibacterial and antibacterial effects: The tea polyphenols and tannic acid in tea act on bacteria, coagulating bacterial proteins and killing bacteria. It can be used to treat intestinal diseases, such as cholera, typhoid, dysentery, enteritis, etc. If the skin develops sores, ulcers and pus, or if the skin is broken due to trauma, rinse the affected area with strong tea, which has anti-inflammatory and bactericidal effects. Oral inflammation, ulceration, and sore throat can also be treated with tea, which also has certain effects.

6. Weight loss effect: Various compounds such as caffeine, inositol, folic acid, pantothenic acid and aromatic substances in tea can regulate fat metabolism, especially oolong tea, which has a good decomposition effect on protein and fat. Tea polyphenols and vitamin C can lower cholesterol and blood lipids, so drinking tea can help you lose weight.

7. Anti-caries effect: Tea contains fluorine. Fluoride ions have a great affinity with the calcium in teeth and can turn into a kind of "fluoroapatite" that is relatively insoluble in acid. It is like adding a protective layer to the teeth, improving the ability of the teeth to prevent acid and caries.

8. Inhibition of cancer cells: It is reported that the flavonoids in tea have varying degrees of anti-cancer effects in vitro, with vitexine, morin and catechin being the stronger ones.

9. Delay aging: Polyphenols have strong antioxidant properties and physiological activity, and are scavengers of free radicals in the human body. According to research conducted by relevant departments, 1 mg of tea polyphenols has the ability to scavenge excessive free radicals harmful to the human body, which is equivalent to 9 micrograms of superoxide dismutase (SOD), which is much higher than other similar substances. Tea polyphenols can block lipid peroxidation and remove active enzymes. According to the test results of Japan's Okuda Takuyu, it is confirmed that the anti-aging effect of tea polyphenols is 18 times stronger than vitamin E.

10. Radiation protection: Polyphenols and their oxidation products have the ability to absorb the poison of radioactive substances strontium 90 and cobalt 60. According to clinical trials conducted by relevant medical departments, tea extract has an effective rate of more than 90% for treating mild radiation sickness caused by cancer patients during radiotherapy; for treating hematocytopenia, the effective rate of tea extract reaches 81.7%; and for leukopenia caused by radiation, the treatment effect is better.

11. Beauty and skin care: Tea polyphenols are water-soluble substances. Washing your face with it can remove facial greasiness, shrink pores, and has the functions of disinfection, sterilization, anti-skin aging, and reduction of skin damage caused by ultraviolet radiation in sunlight. [1]

Health functions

In addition to the well-known physiological regulatory functions of tea on the human body in the early days, such as refreshing, improving eyesight, benefiting thinking, eliminating troubles, and diuresis, in the past two decades, with the deepening of research on tea, its physiological regulatory effects on the human body, especially on the metabolic imbalance of the human body caused by the improvement of living standards and accelerated work rhythm, have been continuously recognized. One is to sterilize and fight viruses and improve the intestinal microbial environment. The effect of tea on the microbial environment in the intestine is two-way. On the one hand, it has a strong bactericidal and bacteriostatic effect on harmful bacteria such as Vibrio cholerae, dysentery, Escherichia coli, and Staphylococcus aureus. Generally, drinking tea at a high concentration can achieve this bactericidal effect; on the other hand, tea plays an important role in maintaining intestinal health by promoting the growth and proliferation of bifidobacteria, which is beneficial to improving intestinal immunity.

Tea also has a strong resistance and inhibitory effect on germs that cause respiratory and digestive tract diseases, especially green tea, which has a stronger effect than other teas. The second is anti-aging and enhancing immunity. Tea polyphenols, vitamin C, and vitamin E in tea are all substances with strong antioxidant activity and can effectively remove excess free radicals that cause human aging. Drinking tea can also increase the number and activity of white blood cells and lymphocytes in the body and enhance immunity. The third is to lower blood lipids and blood sugar. Tea contains catechins and tea polysaccharides. Catechins can inhibit the synthesis of cholesterol in human cells. Therefore, drinking tea can reduce the total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein content in plasma. Both catechins and tea polysaccharides can effectively reduce blood sugar and urine sugar levels in diabetic patients. In addition, drinking green tea and oolong tea can effectively prevent and treat skin cancer, lung cancer, liver cancer, esophageal cancer and other cancers. [1]

Therapeutic effects of diet

The relationship between drinking tea, eating and taking medicine

Drinking tea can relieve greasiness and aid digestion. Eating a large amount of meat, eggs, milk and other foods, because they are rich in fat and protein, will stay in the stomach for a long time, usually about 4 hours, making you feel full and thirsty. Drink some strong tea at this time. The tea juice will form an emulsion with fatty foods, which will promote the emptying of food in the stomach and make the stomach comfortable. Of course, tea contains a large amount of polyphenols, which are easy to coagulate with proteins, iron and other substances, and are not easily absorbed by the intestinal mucosa, affecting the body's digestion and absorption of protein and iron. Therefore, it is not advisable to drink tea immediately after eating high-protein foods such as seafood and soy products.

There are many types of medicines with different properties. Whether they can be taken with tea cannot be generalized. Generally speaking, Western medicines containing iron, calcium, aluminum and other ingredients, protein-based enzyme preparations and microbial medicines should not be taken with tea, because tea polyphenols can easily precipitate and combine with these ingredients, thereby reducing the efficacy of the medicine or causing adverse effects. Tea contains caffeine, which has a stimulant effect, so it should not be taken with sedative drugs to soothe the nerves, relieve coughs, fight allergies, and aid sleep, to avoid affecting the efficacy of the drugs. Some Chinese herbal medicines such as ginseng, ephedra, uncaria, coptis, smilax, etc. should not be mixed with tea. It is generally believed that it is not advisable to drink tea within 2 hours of taking medicine. When taking certain vitamins, stimulants, drugs that lower blood sugar, lower blood lipids, diuretics and increase white blood cells, tea will have no adverse effect on the efficacy of the drugs, because the tea polyphenols in tea can promote the accumulation and absorption of vitamin C in the human body. At the same time, the tea itself contains a variety of vitamins, which have stimulant, diuretic, lower blood fat, lower blood sugar and other effects, which can enhance the efficacy of the drugs. [1]

Special taboos

Children: Drinking some light tea in moderation (one third of the concentration of tea for adults) can help digestion, regulate the nervous system, and prevent dental caries. However, drinking strong tea may cause iron deficiency anemia in children.

Pregnant and lactating women: avoid drinking strong tea and high-end green tea or large-leaf tea with high content of tea polyphenols and caffeine to prevent iron deficiency anemia during pregnancy. Breast-feeding women drinking strong tea will cause too much caffeine to enter the milk, which will indirectly cause excitement in the baby, causing less sleep and more crying.

Elderly people: Drinking tea is good for health, but you need to drink good tea at the right time and in the right amount. The absorption and metabolic functions of the elderly decline. The content of fluorine, calcium, magnesium and other minerals in coarse old tea is high. Excessive drinking will affect bone metabolism. The elderly should not drink too much tea or strong tea at night and before going to bed, to avoid stimulating nerves, increasing urination, and affecting sleep.

Patients with cardiovascular disease and diabetes: Drinking tea in an appropriate amount and for a long time is beneficial to improving cardiovascular symptoms, reducing blood lipids and cholesterol, improving blood anticoagulability, and increasing the elasticity of capillaries. Diabetic patients can appropriately increase the amount of tea they drink. It is best to use tea collected from the fresh leaves of old tea trees and fully soaked in cold boiled water below 50°C before drinking.

Patients with digestive tract diseases, heart disease, and renal insufficiency: It is generally not advisable to drink high-end green tea, especially newly roasted tea, in order to reduce the stimulation of tea polyphenols on the gastrointestinal mucosa and reduce the burden on the heart and kidneys.

In addition: It is best to drink tea after a meal, because drinking tea on an empty stomach will harm the body, especially for people who do not drink tea often. It will inhibit the secretion of gastric juice, hinder digestion, and in severe cases can cause "tea drunkenness" such as palpitations and headaches. In addition, when drinking tea at night, put less tea leaves and don't make the tea too strong.

It should be noted that you must not drink overnight tea. In addition, the temperature is generally higher in summer, so tea should not be served for more than 12 hours. Do not use a thermos cup to make tea to avoid loss of nutrients.

　(Editor: Dou Shuai)

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