How Does Tea Help to Keep Your Heart Healthy?

Tea is one of the most refreshing and most commonly- consumed beverages, not only in India but also in some of the major parts of the world. Tea has been consumed for quite a long time, from ancient times and it is still popular even today. Apart from providing refreshments, tea is also considered an important source of plant-based nutrients that are not just beneficial for our overall physiological health and body functioning but also help to get rid of or at least lower the risk of occurrences of different types of diseases and severe health conditions. So, to keep your heart healthy and free from the occurrence of different types of severe cardiac diseases, it is important to include healthy food substances in your diet. Tea is one such health-beneficial component that will not only protect your heart but will also help you to have a better immune system in the body and therefore your body will be able to develop an ability to fight against several types of diseases.

Tea is a very commonly- used beverage that is filled with antioxidants such as polyphenols, thymine, and so on that help to keep your heart healthy and free from cardiac diseases. Those who consume tea, mostly green tea, are known to have a much healthier cardiac condition, than those who do not consume tea. This is in fact true that, the ancient texts also refer to the goodness and the health benefits of having tea.

Tea can be of different types and flavors, based on the region where it is grown and the type of color or flavor that it brings when the tea leaves are boiled. Tea can be both green and black in color. Besides, in India, black tea, also known as liquor tea is mostly grown in Darjeeling. So, it is also famously known as Darjeeling tea. Apart from that, Darjeeling produces milk tea as well. But milk tea is most famously grown in Assam, located in North-Eastern India. The color and flavor variations also occur because of plucking and fermentation. Tea leaves, extracted from the tea shrubs, that are scientifically known as Camellia sinensis, consist of powerful antioxidants when it is consumed in the form of green tea, but when these tea leaves are fermented, they are consumed as black tea, which amounts of antioxidants decrease.

When you drink tea, you are enjoying many health benefits, and taking care of your heart health is one of them. Today, it is quite commonly found that most people, particularly aged individuals are suffering from several types of heart diseases and risks of cardiac damage, not only in India but also in some of the major areas around the globe. This is mostly because, while you age, you should always provide special care to most of the major organs of your body, and your heart should be one of the top priorities. If we look back in history, we have been enjoying the health benefits of tea for almost 4000 or 5000 years. Tea was first discovered in China and then it gradually traveled to all parts of the world, and the world gets the benefits of tea every morning. In fact, tea is so commonly consumed, that it would not be wrong if it is said that tea is the second beverage we have after water.

When you are having tea, especially if it is for the benefit of your heart and to maintain the overall circulatory system and proper functioning of all the cardiac cells, you must have tea with limited, or preferably without adding sugar into it. This will not only help you to keep your heart healthy but will also help to prevent the risks of developing high levels of blood sugar that might result in diseases like diabetes mellitus or gaining extra body weight due to calorie surplus in the body.

Nutritional Profile Of Tea Leaves:

Tea leaves are filled with enormous amounts of nutrients, in fact, tea leaves and extracts derived from tea are considered a powerhouse of essential antioxidants. So, to include tea as an important component for taking good care of your heart, you must always know what other nutrients are present in tea. For this reason, the other nutritional and health-beneficial components that are present in tea extracts can be listed below, along with the approximate quantities.

• Sodium: 7mg
• The total amount of carbohydrates: 1g
• Sugar levels: 0g
• Calories: 2
• Fat: 0g
• Amount of cholesterol content: 0mg
• Protein: 0g

Apart from the above-mentioned health nutrients, there are some other beneficial and nutritious components that are also found in tea extracts. Some such nutritional components can be listed here as follows:

• Magnesium
• Zinc
• Copper
• Calcium
• Phosphorou
• Fluoride
• Potassium

Essential antioxidants such as:

• Flavonoids
• Catechins
• Polyphenols

How Can Tea Help To Take Care Of Your Heart?

As already mentioned above, tea is an extraordinary component that is consumed by most people as a beverage for refreshment. Tea leaves and tea extracts are filled with beneficial components such as powerful dietary antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals that are exceptionally important, not only for heart health but also to lower the risk of different types of other severe health-related ailments. Several doctors and medical health practitioners have opined that tea has a major role to play in protecting cardiac health, mostly among aged individuals, who are at greater risk of developing different types of cardiac diseases such as heart attack, heart failure, stroke, cardiac arrest, and many other forms of cardiovascular diseases. But, drinking tea every day is known to significantly lower the risks of developing high levels of blood pressure, which is often known to be one of the pre-conditions of developing heart attack, stroke, cardiac arrest, or any related state of cardiac damage. In fact, cardiologists and many physicians advise that consumption of green tea extracts can particularly help to lower the risks of high cholesterol, increased rate of cardiac arrest, and other cardiac disorders. This happens due to the following reasons:

• An important health-beneficial component known as catechin, found in the extracts of green tea and black tea is exceptionally helpful in lowering the blood pressure levels in the body, by helping the blood vessels to ease and make the muscles that lie along the blood vessels relax and stay in healthy conditions.
• The essential health extracts in tea, particularly the abundant amount of antioxidants help in lowering the risks of any type of cardiac damage and other severe heart-related ailments, such as hypertension.
• Several scientists and researchers at the University of California and the University of Copenhagen are revealing that the essential antioxidants present in extracts derived from tea leaves are responsible for keeping your heart healthy and free from any kind of damage or the risk of developing cardiac diseases, this happens because, when you consume tea, the antioxidants present in tea leaves open and release health- beneficial channels of ionic compounds that help the muscles to relax. This at the end helps to lower higher levels of blood pressure and treat adverse conditions of the heart, such as hypertension, and therefore, reduces the risks of developing heart attack, stroke, cardiac arrest, and similar other heart-related ailments.
• Besides, the extracts of tea leaves are filled with vital components such as thearubigins, which is an important and essential form of antioxidant. This component helps to control cholesterol levels and keeps your heart disease-free if consumed in adequate proportions.
• According to recent studies and experiments, it has been found that the antioxidants present in tea help to lower the levels of LDL (Low-Density Lipoprotein) or bad cholesterol and help to maintain the levels of HDL (High-Density Lipoprotein) or good cholesterol at an optimum.
• Extracts of tea leaves are filled with anti-inflammatory substances that are beneficial in lowering the oxidative damage caused by disease-creating free radicals. This function of tea extracts helps to keep your heart healthy and protects it from the occurrence of any type of chronic or inflammatory diseases because of cell damage and thus prevents cardiac damage and risks of stroke.