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Rooibos & Antioxidants

May 31, 2011 | By Bonnie Vanaman
Rooibos & Antioxidants
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Rooibos has been used in South Africa for centuries as a healthy medicinal drink to treat everything from acne to insomnia. Scientists in Western countries are interested in rooibos due to the beneficial antioxidants it contains without the caffeine and tannins found in coffee and tea. With relatively side effects and the potential to prevent and treat cardiovascular disease and cancer, rooibos can be a good choice to add to a healthful diet.

Identification

Rooibus gets its name from the redbush plant, with the leaves and stems from the plant picked and dried to make green rooibos tea. When rooibos tea leaves are fermented, they turn an orange red color, with produces a sweeter taste. The level of antioxidants varies between the two forms, although they both contain measurable levels. Rooibos doesn't contain the type of catechin antioxidants found in traditional green and black teas.

Rooibos Nutrition

Rooibos contains protein, minerals, volatile oils and antioxidants known as polyphenols and flavonoids. Flavonoids are sometimes called "vitamin P" and have been linked to various health-protective benefits, with rooibos high in the flavonoids orientin, quercertin, rutin, chrysoeriol and aspalthin. However, the antioxidant levels in rooibos are approximately half that of Camellia sinensis, the type of common green and black tea found commercially in the U.S.

Significance

Free radicals are harmful chemicals that can damage the DNA in your cells and make the bad low-density lipoprotein form of cholesterol more likely to stick to your artery walls, leading to plaque buildups and narrowed arteries. Antioxidants are compounds that fight these free radicals, with more familiar ones being vitamin C, vitamin E and beta-carotene, although there may be thousands of different antioxidant substances, according to the Harvard School of Public Health. People who eat fewer antioxidant-rich fruits and vegetables are at an increased risk for developing chronic diseases like diabetes, heart disease and cancer.

Expert Insight

Italian researchers found that rooibos tea is able to boost plasma antioxidant defenses in humans. The study results, published in "Food Chemistry" in May 2010, showed that 15 healthy adults given 500 ml of fermented rooibos tea increased antioxidant capacity 6.6 percent, while those given unfermented rooibos tea increased antioxidant capacity by 2.9 percent. This contrasted with in vivo results that found unfermented rooibos tea displayed a 28 percent higher value than did the fermented beverage. This may be due to the level of tea metabolites in urine that indicate rooibos teas are not readily absorbed by the body and may have a restricted bioavailability.

Considerations

Side effects of consuming rooibos tea are rare, although there is one case report of liver damage from the tea, and the tea may interfere with the action of certain types of chemotherapy drugs. Compounds isolated from rooibos have estrogenic activity, so if you have a hormone-sensitive cancer like that of the breast, ovary, uterus or prostate, you should use caution with consuming rooibos.

References

Article reviewed by Craig Gaines Last updated on: May 31, 2011

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