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A toast for tea

Preeti Mehra

`` Gosh, look at how much tea you people drink!'' That's the common refrain from the purists who stick to the so-called `robust' alternatives such as milk, fruit juices and good old lassi.

But latest research, and a massive media campaign based on it, shows there's more than hope for those perpetual tea drinkers. In fact that's their secret to a healthy life.

Research findings being promoted by the Consultative Committee of Plantation Associations, the Tea Board of India and the Ministry of Commerce, show tea in an entirely different light -- as a protective beverage that promotes health and lowers risk of he art disease, stroke and certain types of cancer.

However, despite this fact and India being the biggest tea producing country, we are not its biggest consumers. Our consumption is far below Ireland, the United Kingdom and Russia, the three top tea consuming countries.

Moreover, among the younger generation tea consumption is falling. That despite the fact that the favourite cola has roughly double the caffeine that tea contains and coffee has triple the amount of caffeine.

To revive the status and consumption of this ancient beverage, the latest media campaign `Piyo More Chai', generic in nature, makes a health pitch based on scientific facts.

Recently the campaign was kicked off with an array of research findings on the issue. The presentation was by Dr John H. Weisburger, Senior Member and Director Emeritus of the American Health Foundation, who swears by the goodness of tea and recommends t he consumption of eight to ten cups per day as a value addition for healthy longevity.

Dr Weisburger has done extensive research on the causes and mechanisms underlying major chronic diseases, with emphasis on cardiovascular ailments and cancers.

He finds tea very effective in preventing chronic diseases and says it is an `` excellent means of lowering the risk of heart disease, and many cancers, whether caused by tobacco, salt, or Western nutritional habits.''

The initial research was done on green tea in Japan. Later in the US and Europe they studied the effects of what we drink in India, black tea. They found that both the green and black variety have the same impact on the body.

What were the findings? In a nutshell, that both the teas contain polyphenols which are endowed with important antioxidant properties. These properties prevent the oxidation of LDL-cholesterol, the mechanism whereby tea drinkers have decreased heart dis ease risk.

They also discovered that the pattern of enzymes found in the body of tea drinkers accounted for the effects of teas in lowering the risk of cancers due to carcinogens getting detoxified.

Moreover, research suggests that the two per cent caffeine in tea plays a positive role and that tea with caffeine is more effective than decaffeinated tea. According to Dr Weisburger, tea also exerts a major inhibiting effect on the growth and developme nt of many types of cancer and therefore could also be introduced in clinical practice in cases of cancer. Further, it has a beneficial effect in changing the intestinal bacterial flora.

But what about the milk and sugar that we Indians add? Milk is fine, he says, as long as it constitutes only 20 per cent of the drink. Sugar is best avoided. But, he emphasises, that tea drinking `is' part of a healthy lifestyle along with regular exerci se and a moderate diet that includes bran cereals, fruits and vegetables.

Well, if that's the case, no longer can habitual tea drinkers be chastised for a `terrible habit.'

Picture by Shaju John