Next to water, people drink tea more than any beverage in the world, particularly in Asia and Europe. Tea is a rich source of many antioxidants. Within thirty to fifty minutes after drinking a cup of brewed tea, blood levels of antioxidants rise by 40 to 50 percent and may last for up to eighty minutes. Black and green tea contains various antioxidants including quercetin and catechins that can reduce the risk of coronary heart artery disease and stroke significantly. Tea also lowers the blood level of homocysteine, a protein compound that is highly damaging to cardiovascular system (heart). But the cardiovascular and anti-cancer benefits of tea (green or black) are substantially reduced if milk and sugar is added to the tea, a practice all too common in Pakistan, India and whole south Asia. This because some ingredients in milk (such as lactalbumin, fatty acids, and calcium) may bind to tea’s antioxidants and phenolic compounds at high temperatures, and reduce their absorption from the digestive tract.
Indus Asia Online Journal (Click here to go to home page)
I have found that converting from milk and sugar tea to plain tea does take some getting used to. Once your body has sugar on a regular basis, it continually will crave it, but you can break the cycle! It took me about a week or so of regularly drinking plain tea in order to really appreciate the true flavor of it ( and not crave the sugar!). And I am glad I can now gain FULL benefit from the health boosting properties of tea.