Page 9 - Preparation of Tea Brochure

Tea’s Role in Cardiovascular Health
Human population studies have found that people who regularly consume three or more cups of Black Tea per day have a reduced risk of heart disease and stroke. Clinical studies suggest that the risk reduction associated with Black Tea consumption may be due to improvement in some risk factors for cardiovascular disease, including blood vessel function, platelet function and a reduction in oxidative damage.
While researchers are still examining the various mechanisms by which tea avonoids function, some studies suggest multifunctional mechanisms, meaning that several mechanisms work in tandem to collectively improve markers for cardiovascular health. Important areas of tea and cardiovascular health research include blood vessel and endothelial function, or the ability of the blood vessels to dilate to allow for proper blood ow, serum cholesterol levels and Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol oxidation. Each of these factors impact the risk of myocardial infarctions (heart attacks), stroke and cardiovascular disease.
Tea’s Role in Cancer Risk Reduction
Preliminary research suggests that the avonoids in tea could play a role in human cancer
risk reduction possibly by combating free radical damage, inhibiting uncontrolled cell growth (cell proliferation), by promoting programmed cell death (apoptosis) and boosting the immune system to help fend off the development and promotion of cancer cells. Leading scientists worldwide are actively studying these potential mechanisms, and clinical trials and population studies are underway. More evidence is needed before any de nitive conclusions can be drawn.
Tea’s Role in Immune Function
Researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard University recently published novel new data indicating that tea contains a component that can help the body ward off infection and disease and that drinking tea may strengthen the immune system.
The researchers identi ed a substance in tea, L-theanine, which primes the immune system
in ghting infection, bacteria, viruses and fungi. A subsequent human clinical trial showed that certain immune cells of participants who drank ve cups of Black Tea a day for two to four weeks secreted up to four times more interferon, an important part of the body’s immune defense, than at baseline. Consumption of the same amount of coffee for the same duration had no effect on interferon levels. According to the authors, this study suggests that drinking Black Tea provides the body’s immune system with natural resistance to microbial infection.
Attention and Focus
Tea polyphenols are bioavailable to the brain and can act through iron-chelation, signal transduction modulation, and other mechanisms to effect neuroprotective and/or neurorescue action, with potential implications for age-related dementia, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. A unique tea amino acid, L-theanine (L-y-glutamylethylamide), plays a role in attentional processing in synergy with caffeine.
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