What Are The Benefits Of Drinking Chai Tea?

In terms of potential health benefits, chai offers much more than either coffee or ordinary black tea. Often served blended with milk and sweetened with honey, this aromatic brew contains several herbs used in Ayurvedic medicine. Drink chai in the morning and receive a boost of nutrients that affect the digestive and respiratory systems--along with the energizing caffeine many crave. Consider chai a mild tonic rather than a treatment for serious illness.

Stimulant

Chai's main ingredient--black tea--contains caffeine, which stimulates the central nervous system and increases mental alertness and physical energy. One or two cups of tea brewed to American tastes typically provides 1/3 the caffeine of one cup of coffee.

Digestion

Six of the herbs usually found in chai aid digestion. In Ayurvedic theory, black pepper's ability to stimulate taste buds should also increase production of digestive acids. Cinnamon and cardamom provide herbal treatments for indigestion, while fennel and cinnamon treat flatulence. Ginger also calms the stomach.

Anti-nausea

Herbalists recommend both cinnamon and ginger to combat nausea. Ginger's warming and calming effect on the stomach makes it a well-known remedy for motion sickness while traveling and for morning sickness during pregnancy.

Respiratory Relief

Several of the herbs found in chai relieve minor respiratory symptoms and the nasal congestion of colds or flu. Caffeine relieves mild asthmatic problems, while ginger and cinnamon also relieve respiratory congestion. Cloves and nutmeg ease sore throats, while pepper stimulates a cleansing flow through inflamed sinuses. The capsaicin in pepper provides the active ingredient for many common nasal congestion medicines. The camphor-like smell of cloves also soothes nasal pathways, and cloves relieve pain as well.

Anti-bacterial

Cinnamon extracts show anti-viral, anti-fungal and anti-bacterial effects. The capsaicin in pepper also has anti-bacterial properties and may help heal stomach ulcers--a claim also made for ginger.

Anti-cancer

Polyphenols found in black tea release antioxidants into the brew. In the body, antioxidants trap free radicals that could damage living cells and possibly trigger cancerous growth. According to Medline Plus, research into the relationship between consumption of tea and cancer rates yields conflicting results. Animal testing shows that polyphenols in tea have antioxidant and anti-tumor properties, but other tests indicate carcinogenic effects from other tea components. Dr. Stanley Segall of Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, says that the 2g of tea in a typical teabag contain less than half a useful dose of antioxidants. Laboratory studies also show that black tea helps prevent colo-rectal cancer in animals, but the effect on humans is unproven.

Anti-cavity

Chai contains fluoride--which has proven anti-cavity effects--but only in small amounts. Green tea actually contains more fluoride than the fermented black brew used in chai.