Does tea have anti-inflammatory benefits? The answer is YES. This is mainly due to the presence of substances such as tea polyphenols and vitamins in tea.
Firstly, Tea polyphenols are a general term for polyphenolic substances, including catechins, flavonols, flavanols, flavonolols, and phenolic acids. They are the main components that contribute to the color, flavor, and aroma of tea leaves.
Tea polyphenols can reduce the permeability of capillaries, increase their resistance to rupture, and combine with the characteristic of reducing bleeding, so they have a hemostatic effect.
At the same time, tea polyphenols have the ability to coagulate proteins, and since bacteria are made up of proteins, when tea polyphenols come into contact with bacterial proteins, the bacteria are killed, giving them bactericidal properties. According to scientific research, tea polyphenols have an inhibitory effect on the growth and reproduction of Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Streptococcus pneumoniae. Cholera bacteria immersed in concentrated tea for more than 6 minutes lose their activity as well.
Secondly, let's take a look at the vitamins. Vitamin C is the most abundant in tea, typically ranging from 100 to 500 milligrams per 100 grams of tea, which is much higher than that in oranges, tomatoes, lemons, and pineapples. White blood cells in the human body contain abundant amounts of vitamin C, which decreases rapidly during infections. Vitamin C can enhance the chemotaxis and deformability of neutrophils, and improve their bactericidal ability.
Tea polyphenols and vitamin C work together to enhance the anti-inflammatory effect of tea.