Black teas contain significant amounts of antioxidants, which is why they reduce risk of heart disease and stroke.
Free radicals are responsible for certain chronic disease such as heart attack, coronary artery disease, stroke, and hypertension.
The antioxidants inhibit many oxidation reactions caused by free radicals, thereby preventing or delaying damage to cells and tissues.
Drinking black tea helps prevent deadly clogging of arteries and reverses poor arterial functioning that can trigger heart attacks and strokes, major new studies have found.
Tea is a rich source of many antioxidants. Within thirty minutes after drinking a cup of brewed tea, blood levels of tea’s antioxidants rise by 40 to 50 percent and may last for up to eighty minutes.
One study 1993 published in Lancet by Dutch researchers found that dietary antioxidants reduce the risk of heart attack among the residents of Zutphen, a city in the Netherlands. Men who consumed the most fruit and vegetables all rich in antioxidants had the lowest heart attack risk.
In different a large 10-year study in the Netherlands, men who consumed the amount of antioxidants called "catechins" found in three cups of black tea were 50% less likely to die of ischemic heart disease, caused by narrowed clogged arteries, than were men who consumed only the catechins in half a cup of tea.
Black tea contains various antioxidants including quercetin and catechins that can reduce the risk of coronary artery disease and stroke significantly.
In one test, by the Boston University School of Medicine, had heart patients drink either plain water or four cups of black tea daily. In a month, impaired blood vessel functioning (a risk factor for heart attack and strokes) improved about 50% in the tea drinkers.
The cardiovascular and anti-cancer benefits are substantially reduced if milk is added to the tea, a practice all too common in England, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
Drink black tea saves arteries
