The Digestion of Tea

Tea is the brew made from the leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant. It is the beverage most consumed worldwide, after water, and has been used for centuries as both a drink and a traditional remedy. People drink tea to feel more alert, to soothe an upset stomach or frazzled nerves, and to enjoy a low-calorie or no-calorie beverage as part of a weight control diet. Science is discovering new ways each day in which drinking tea provides significant health benefits.

Black Tea

Black tea is the fully fermented product of the tea plant and the process deepens the flavor along with the color of the leaves and eventual brew. The longer the fermentation, the higher the caffeine in the tea. Black tea has two or three times as much caffeine as unfermented green tea. The National Institutes of Health says that black tea, once ingested, raises blood pressure and may prevent dizziness in people with low blood pressure. It has a clear effect on mental alertness due to the 2 to 4 percent of caffeine it contains. The caffeine in black tea does act as a diuretic which increases urine output.

Starch Slow-Down

Tea slows starch digestion. The polyphenols in tea bind enzymes like salivary amylase which affects the glycemic index. An extract of the polyphenols in tea could help diabetics to lower their blood glucose levels with no harsh side effects. The drug that lowers the glycemic index, acarbose, has some adverse side effects that include stomach pain and diarrhea. Research at Cornell University shows that the enzyme inhibitors in tea that slow starch digestion could provide a milder alternative to current drugs for diabetes treatment.

Anti-inflammatory Fat Fighter

Green tea catechins are antioxidant and anti-inflammatory. The most powerful catechin in green tea is EGCG which has a strong anti-inflammatory influence on the gastrointestinal tract. The EGCG in tea could help to reduce the risk of several diseases including Crohn's Disease, an inflammatory intestinal disease, and colon cancer. Safe Alternative Medicine reports that the catechins in green tea appear to help metabolize body fat faster, resulting in lower fat absorption.

Heart Healthy Tea

Both green and black tea might be the healthiest after-dinner drink to follow a high-fat meal. According to cardiologists at the University of Maryland Medical Center, the antioxidants in tea prevent the constriction of blood vessels, a temporary reaction to consuming a lot of high-fat food. The constriction of blood vessels can initiate a heart attack, so the discovery of another function of the antioxidants in tea has positive implications for preventing cardiovascular disease.