Newlands Import Corporation
Canadian Importers of Premium Rooibos Tea
 

Tea is Serious Business!

By Arnold Bredenkamp

In England tea is taken with cream,

In Tibet it is taken with butter,

In China it has been taken for thousands of years,

And now it is time for CANADA to take tea… seriously!!

Why? Because tea is HUGE on antioxidants! Did you know that a cup of regular tea contained more than three times the antioxidants found in a glass of orange juice?

Everybody knows that antioxidants are terrific health news: Scientists have discovered that these natural plant chemicals not only shield the body from cancer, they actually kill cancer cells outright! What is more, antioxidants protect your heart, since they minimize cholesterol build-up and prevent blot clots. Antioxidants limit the effect of free radicals in the process of aging and the declining of the immune system.

What are free radicals?

Molecular oxygen is essential for all life, but during respiration unbound hydroxyl, superoxide and peroxide molecules are formed. These molecules are unstable and very reactive and can cause damage to normal healthy tissue and change DNA, leading to mutations, which can be the precursors to cancer.

Antioxidants to the rescue!

The body can normally cope with the harmful effect of these free radicals, since its antioxidant defense enzymes as well as antioxidant nutrients protects the body by combining with the free radicals or preventing them from forming.

For example: SOD or Superoxide Dismutase is an enzyme that can quench superoxides. This enzyme is present in all animal tissues but in humans SOD production becomes less after age 40. It is believed that the three mayor adult diseases (strokes, heart attacks and cancer) are found among persons whose SOD production have deteriorated.

Antioxidants in Tea

The best known antioxidants are Vitamin C and E. Vitamin C is water-soluble and Vitamin E is lipid-soluble. Between the two of them they can thus protect both phases of the cell. These vitamins are found in many foods but both are also found in tea. It is also known that Vitamin C is destroyed by heat, but a recent study in China indicates that something in tea protects the Vitamin C from destruction.

Polyphenols are another very well known group of antioxidants. Polyphenols dramatically decrease the mutagenicity of a variety of genotoxic carcinogens and is shown to prevent the damage to DNA that can cause cancer. Catechin, one of the polyphenols found in tea, is very powerful as it interferes with the enzyme urokinase that is crucial for cancer growth and it also enhances the action of Vitamin C and E.

The tea plant (Camellia Sinensis) plant grows in Subtropical areas (China, India, Japan and Africa),  It is high in Polyphenols (specifically Catechin), Tannin and Caffeine. 

Green Tea is made out of this plant by picking, steaming and drying its leaves.  Black tea is made the same, but the leaves are bruised and allowed to ferment before drying.  Fermentation or oxidation results in a loss of tannin and antioxidants and the creation of flavour and a darker colour. Oolong tea is the same as black tea but is only partly fermented

The Anti Cancer properties of the polyphenolic compounds of green and black teas is well known but we also know that Black and Oolong tea are not as powerful as Green Tea in terms of its antioxidant properties

Black /green tea shares a common ingredient with Coffee that is Caffeine. Tea is very rich in Caffeine (10 to 80 mg per cup) and this might sometimes be even more that coffee.  The Caffeine in Coffee is absorbed quickly into body due to by products that are formed during the roasting process.  With tea the absorption is regulated by tannin and the effect of caffeine is usually less but longer lasting

We now know that tea is a good source of antioxidants, but what about the caffeine and tannin in regular tea? Caffeine can be harmful to the central nervous system, causing irritability, high blood pressure and erratic sleep patterns. Tannin adversely affects the body's metabolism by decreasing the absorption of iron and protein. To this there is a solution

Rooibos Tea!! This naturally grown South African plant (Aspalathus Linearis) contains NO CAFFEINE and only one-tenth of the tannin in regular teas! And it has more antioxidant power than regular tea!

The primary polyphenols in Rooibos are Aspalanthin, Catechin, Quercetin, Rutin, and Luteolin. Research indicates that these antioxidants have antispasmodic, anti-inflammatory, antithrombotic, antiviral, antimuta-genic, and antiallergic properties.  It is known that Rooibos reduce the number of chromosome aberrations, inhibit tumors, dissolves cholesterol and improves general health by increasing energy levels and boosting the body’s natural immune system

How can one be anti-serious about that!