Get Smarter. Drink Up.

The second most consumed beverage in the world, tea is lauded for its reputation in promoting our health in multiple ways. Now research suggests that tea, once digested in the body, can significantly slow the growth of cancerous cells as well as binding to harmful compounds known to play a role in triggering the development of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

Scientists at Newcastle University were excited to be perhaps the first to show that the health-boosting compounds called polyphenols were not only active, but actually more powerful once digested than simply in their brewed form. This is important because it’s one thing to identify foods that have health-enhancing nutrients and properties, but if these compounds are not active and available to the body after you digest them, then the benefit may be reduced or lost.

Somewhat surprisingly, while black tea represents about 80% of all the tea consumed in the world, the grand majority of research on tea has looked at green tea. Scientists believe there may be similar and overlapping positive effects—since both green and black tea come from the same leaf Camelia sinensis— and agree that more research in this area is needed.