Few people doubt that tea is useful: billions of Asians who drink this hot drink for millennia cannot be mistaken. Tea perfectly quenches thirst and invigorates, lowers cholesterol and normalizes the work of the cardiovascular system, slows down aging and even makes people smarter.
However, the abundance of pluses does not exclude minuses. If you are a desperate tea admirer, it is better for you to interrupt reading and stay in sweet ignorance … or accept a new reality where tea is not so useful and can be stopped if possible. Make your choice!
Bleeding … because of Tea?!
Read about the unexpected conclusion that British scientist and surgeon Henry Sharp made few months ago. Vessels of the nasopharynx are damaged with the regular use of very hot tea. Steam from the cup causes them to expand and often provokes nasal bleeding.
In addition, it is also believed that hot tea can increase the risk of esophageal cancer. Fortunately, not everyone agrees with it. In any case, the optimal temperature of the drink is 50-60° C. To achieve ideal temperature, a cup of freshly brewed tea should stay for 5-7 minutes at room temperature.
Too Strong Tea is Harmful for Teeth and Bones
The New England Journal of Medicine published stories of several patients affected by the habit of drinking extremely strong tea. Scientists managed to study the harm from strong tea citing a real example: a 47-year-old woman from the UK drank tea daily, brewed from 100-150 tea bags! In a relatively short period of time, she lost virtually all her teeth and acquired excessive fragility of bones. These are symptoms of skeletal fluorosis. It is caused by the accumulation of fluoride in the bones, contained in strong tea.
It is clear that not everyone can drink extremely strong tea, but it is always a good thing to remember the quantity. Nutritionists recommend drinking no more than 4-5 cups a day.
Tea May Contain Heavy Metals
In 2013, the Canadian Journal of Toxicology published results of a study of a large number of samples of tea bags from different regions of the planet.
Toxicologists found heavy metals such as lead, aluminum, arsenic and cadmium in the samples. It is assumed that metals gain access to the tea leaves because of soil contamination: For example, plantations are often located next to non-environmental friendly coal-fired power plants.
The concentration of metals in the beverage depends on the time of brewing. If the bag is in water for 15-17 minutes, the level of toxic substances rises to an unsafe level (for example, in some samples, the aluminum concentration was up to 11,449 μg / l with an allowable daily maximum of 7,000 μg / l).
The scientists concluded: the longer the tea is brewed, the more muck is washed out of the leaves into the water. So, do not brew tea for more than 3 minutes.
Another option is to prefer white tea. Tea leaves are plucked off very young, leaving theme little time to accumulate a critical dose of heavy metals.
In Some Cases, Tea is Bad for Liver
Herbal teas often contain pyrrolizidine alkaloids – toxins produced by some species of flowering plants. For example, harmless at first glance, tussilago farfara, is rich in pyrrolizidine alkaloids.
These toxins adversely affect the body as a whole, but their main target is the liver. In 2015, the American magazine, Food Chemistry published the results of a study of 44 samples of herbal teas intended for infants, pregnant and lactating women. Scientists found pyrrolizidine alkaloids in 86% of the samples.
In principle, the dose of toxins that can be inadvertently acquired from tea (with moderate use, of course) for an adult is almost safe. With infants, as well as pregnant and lactating women, the situation is different. Because of the low body weight, the baby and especially the unborn baby are more vulnerable to toxins transferred from the mother to the baby.
Drinking Tea After Eating Can Lead to a Lack of Iron
Studies conducted at the University of California in 2011, proved: tea “binds” the iron supplied with food, significantly worsening its absorption by the body. If you regularly drink tea after a meal, you may develop a glandular deficiency, which is fraught with unpleasant consequences: from deterioration of the skin, hair, lethargy to iron deficiency anemia, to deal with, for which you will need a doctor’s help.
Therefore, doctors recommend not to drink tea immediately after your favorite breakfast, lunch or dinner. Tea drinking should be at least after 20 minutes of a major meal.
Tea Provokes Insomnia
We love tea because of its caffeine and pleasant aroma, and it is known to keep you awake. The invigorating effect of the drink has a physiological basis: pulse accelerates, blood flow is increased as the adrenal glands secrete more adrenaline. Caffeine affects blood pressure while also exciting the central nervous system and brain. In the morning or at the peak of a day's work, a cup of tea is just awesome!
But in the evening, excitation due to tea can cause insomnia. If you really want to drink a cup of the tea while surfing on dating blog or watching Netflix, it's better to limit yourself to herbal drinks with minimal caffeine content as compared to black and especially green tea.
