Coffee Vs Tea

Benefits of drinking Coffee and Tea

We all love a cup of coffee or tea. In fact, we love it so much that we get through an estimated £750 million worth of coffee a year and around 165 million cups of tea a day. If, however, you're worried that your intake is bad for your health, think again.

Benefits of drinking tea

Being a tea drinker is particularly good news because tea is crammed with a variety of healthy properties.

Not only does it re-hydrate you just as well as water, but its antioxidants can also help protect against certain cancers and heart disease.

If you drink it regularly it will bring a number of benefits.

Protect you from ovarian cancer

According to research published in the International Journal of Gynaecological Cancer: women drinking two or more cups of black tea a day had a 30 per cent reduction in the risk of ovarian cancer.

Researchers say the disease fighting compounds in black tea – theaflavins – could explain its anti-cancer effects.

Help protect women from heart attacks

Three cups of tea a day can also help protect you from heart attacks – but only if you're female.

Researchers examined nearly 4,000 women and found those who drank tea had less of a dangerous build up of fat and cholesterol in their arteries.

The bad news is the same effect wasn't found in men – one theory being, tea might in some way compliment the female hormone oestrogen, which is also believed to help protect women against heart disease.

Help to keep your teeth healthy

While excessive tea drinking can stain your teeth, moderate tea drinking, without added sugar, has been associated with a number of beneficial effects to your teeth.

This is down to two factors.

• Tea is a good source of fluoride, which can help to protect the teeth from plaque.
• The compounds found in tea can help attack harmful bacteria in the mouth, which are thought to cause gum disease and cavities.

The benefits of drinking coffee

There's also a big upside to drinking coffee, with countless studies showing moderate drinking – that's two to four cups a day – is better for you than you might think.

Drinking coffee can do the following.

Help you avoid dementia

One study has shown that polyphenols (the type of antioxidants found in coffee) can lower your risk of dementia later in life by aiding brain function.

Harvard researchers have also found that moderate coffee drinkers are half as likely to develop Alzheimer's disease.

This is down to the fact caffeine helps slow the build up of amyloid-beta, a toxic brain plaque that's associated with Alzheimer's.

Reduce your risk of oral cancer

Researchers from the American Association of Cancer Research have also found that regular coffee drinkers are 39 per cent less likely to develop oral and throat cancers than those who don't drink coffee.

Keep type 2 diabetes at bay

Give up the sugar in your coffee – and according to research, your coffee will help reduce your risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Harvard University researchers determined that drinking coffee cuts your risk of developing diabetes in half, due to the high levels of disease-fighting antioxidants in every cup you drink.

While its good news all round that drinking tea and coffee is good for your health, experts agree that more research needs to be done.

It's worth remembering, it's also easy to upset the health benefits that come with drinking tea and coffee.