What Are The Health Benefits Of Silver Needle White Tea?

Consider yourself a tea connoisseur once you begin drinking the rare specialty Silver Needle White tea, known as Yin Zhen, in the Fujian province of China where it is grown. This delicate and expensive tea is only harvested a few days between March and April each year when the buds of the Camelia sinensis plant have just barely matured. Cloaked in silvery hairs, hence the tea's name, the buds are carefully harvested by hand, preserving a high antioxidant content and offering numerous health benefits.

Weight Loss

It may sound too good to be true, but in fact leading scientific research indicates that drinking white tea, including the rare silver needle variety, may well help you trim the fat. A German study published in the May 2009 issue of the "Nutrition and Metabolism" medical journal found that white tea effectively assists the body to better metabolize lipids, or fats. Consult with your doctor about adding white tea to a comprehensive weight loss plan.

Cancer Fighter

Antioxidant power abounds in white teas, including the silver needle variety. Augment your diet with frequent sips of white tea to enhance your immune system. According to registered dietitian and author Diana Dyer M.S. adding white tea to a diet that includes a wide variety of antioxidant-rich foods may assist in the prevention, occurrence or recurrence of some cancers. In her book "A Dietitian's Cancer Story-Information and Inspiration for Recovery and Healing from a Three-Time Cancer Survivor" Dyer explains that white tea is thought to contain more antioxidants than other teas due to the lack of processing of this tea type.

Digestive Aid

Soothe a touchy stomach with a cup of silver needle white tea during meals. This premium tea-of-teas may be just the remedy for those who suffer with minor digestion discomforts. According to tea expert Jane Pettigrew, author of "The Tea Companion," silver needle tea, sometimes called silver tip white tea, aids the digestive processes. Consult your medical or health practitioner before drinking white tea for digestive disturbances.

Low Caffeine

For those who don't need or want a strong dose of caffeine to help them wake up, silver needle white tea may be the right alternative. This purest form of the tea family has less caffeine than its green, black and oolong family members, according to the experts at The Rare Tea Company of Great Britain. One cup of silver needle white tea contains 1 percent of the caffeine contained in a cup of coffee.