Green tea is a great source of antioxidants. It’s just not the best.
It’s true that it helps protect you from cancer and heart disease. Drinking it is a great way to get the support you need to fight oxidative stress. This causes inflammation and leads to disease and premature aging. Even so, you can do better.
A silvery tea grows in the Fukien province of China. Each year, farmers harvest the fresh buds of the Camellia sinensis plant. That’s the same plant that produces green tea.1 But that’s where the similarities end.
This lesser-known tea has 70 percent higher antioxidant content than the green variety. This makes it more powerful at fighting the oxidative stress and inflammation that cause cancer and heart disease than any other tea out there.2 Antioxidants can cut your heart disease risk by 60 percent. That’s why you should drink the tea that’s going to give you the most of them.
It comes with a bonus benefit too. This tea has none of the jittery side effects you get from other teas. It has less caffeine than green or black teas because it goes through less processing. 3
| Green tea extract stimulates your immune system to help fight disease. But white tea extract destroys organisms that cause disease in the first place.4 |
So what is this “new” kind of tea and where can you find it?
White tea.
But it isn’t actually white. White tea is really a pale yellow. Tiny silver hairs grow on the bud before it blooms. They get less sunlight, which keeps them from producing as much chlorophyll. Unlike green tea, farmers pick this before it flowers.
Tea leaves that stay closer to their natural state are higher in polyphenols than leaves that are left to age—like black tea. The longer they age, the darker the leaves. It’s because they go through more oxidation. This makes the taste bolder, too. But it also means fewer antioxidants.
You can find fresh white tea at specialty tea shops. You can also buy it organic online and in health food stores.
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References:
1 http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/health-fitness/diet/Is-white-tea-the-next-green-tea/articleshow/30041291.cms
2 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22243054
3 http://www.pacificcollege.edu/acupuncture-massage-news/articles/532-health-benefits-of-white-tea.html
4 http://www.naturalnews.com/043721_white_tea_antioxidants_inflammation.html