Tea or coffee – which is healthier according to research?

Water

Debunking some myths about tea and coffee

There are a huge number of myths surrounding tea and coffee. The ones listed in this paragraph are the most popular.

The main myths about tea:

• you need to use boiling water for brewing - in fact, different types of tea require different temperatures of water for brewing;
• tea can be stored in a teapot for more than a day - any tea should be drunk as soon as possible, since harmful substances form in the tea leaves over time;
• tea should not be drunk during pregnancy - a weakly brewed drink will not harm a pregnant woman in any way;
• green and black tea are made from different plants - these two varieties are obtained from the leaves of the same tea bush;
• green tea is healthier than black tea - each tea is beneficial in its own way, so it is best to alternate them.

The main myths about coffee:

• Coffee helps you sober up - actually, it doesn't;
• coffee will provide dramatic weight loss - it only speeds up metabolism, but you cannot lose much weight with it;
• Coffee slows growth - not at all! It’s not even clear where such a myth came from; probably short people justify themselves this way;
• Pregnant women should not drink coffee - a cup of coffee will not affect the baby in any way. But, it is better to reduce the consumption of this drink;
• Coffee can cure a hangover - it only makes you feel more alert, but it will not cure a hangover.

Before you believe any facts from the Internet, you need to study several resources to be sure that it is true. Otherwise, new myths about tea or coffee may appear.

Compote

Calorie content of coffee and tea

When choosing food products, people evaluate their taste and rarely think about calorie content. This also applies to tea and coffee.

Coffee does not have much unsaturated fat, so 1 teaspoon of coffee contains only 2 calories, while one cup of black coffee contains about 5 calories on average. Many people choose to top these drinks with milk, sugar or cream. It turns out that coffee containing any additional component is at least slightly more caloric than tea. Therefore, everyone who leads a healthy lifestyle and monitors their weight should drink less calorie but healthier tea, and also try to completely stop drinking coffee.

Coffee also contains caffeine; this drink is known as a strong stimulant and helps combat drowsiness. Tea has much more caffeine in its composition than coffee. Caffeine from tea does not tend to accumulate in the human body. Combined with tannin, tea caffeine has a mild effect on the body, so we notice a beneficial and mild effect of tea on the central nervous system and other organs.

Coffee

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Calorie content of tea. Dietary properties:

What is the calorie content of tea, what dietary properties does it have? All this is very interesting for those who are trying to lead a healthy lifestyle, monitor their health and figure. So we will try to answer these questions in the next article.

So here it is:

All scientists and doctors say: regular consumption of properly brewed tea is good for health. The composition of tea leaves includes almost all vitamins, as well as caffeine, tannin, and various essential oils. Unfermented and low-fermented tea is especially useful.

With proper daily consumption of this drink, the nervous system is activated and thought processes are improved. It helps increase the level of hemoglobin in the blood and has a beneficial effect on the functioning of the spleen and liver. It is useful to drink for patients with hypertension and atherosclerosis. Tea without sugar prevents the development of caries and is indispensable for poisoning. Compresses made from it quickly cure sunburn. In addition, it is able to regulate body temperature, so during the hot season it is recommended to drink green tea instead of water.

The tea drink is a potent remedy, so it should be consumed in moderation. High doses of caffeine can trigger the development of certain diseases.

30–50% of tea consists of extractive – water-soluble – substances. But in practice, these substances never completely dissolve. Green tea has more soluble substances - 40-50%, and black tea has much less - 30-40%. Also, the level of extractives depends on its quality. The older and coarser the leaves, the worse the substances dissolve in the infusion.

All soluble substances can be divided into six main groups. These are alkaloids, amino acids, tannins, pigments, essential oils and vitamins.

The main vitamin of tea is vitamin P. Together with vitamin C, it enhances the effectiveness of ascorbic acid and promotes its absorption in the body. In addition, many components of tea can act like vitamin P. It strengthens the walls of blood vessels and prevents internal hemorrhages. In the plant world, this drink ranks first in terms of vitamin P content. White and green tea have the greatest P-vitamin activity. A person who drinks 3–4 cups of tea a day provides the body with the required daily dose of vitamin P.

Another important vitamin for the body contained in tea is vitamin K. It promotes the liver's production of prothrombin, which is necessary to maintain normal blood clotting.

Drink

Which is ultimately more useful (Table)

Considering the list of contraindications, the likelihood and danger of side effects, the undisputed leader is tea (both green and black). Also, tea is not addictive and has virtually no negative impact on sleep.

However, coffee has a more pronounced effect on all systems of the human body; its systematic use is even associated with an increase in life expectancy.

Every organism is individual (sensitivity to various components of drinks, tolerance, presence of somatic and infectious pathologies, etc.), therefore, it is impossible to say for sure which is healthier.

Below is a comparison table of the benefits of tea and coffee in relation to specific goals.

It is also important to note that it is much more difficult to die if you abuse tea. The lethal dose of tea is 150-200 cups per day, coffee - 40-60.

Due to the individual characteristics of each organism, it is impossible to make a verdict regarding the preference of a particular drink for everyone. One thing is certain - tea is safer.

Miscellaneous

What's good about tea?

There is a lot that can be said about how beneficial green tea is. This drink is full of active substances. Tea is able to dissolve beneficial components, while harmful particles remain undissolved.

Alkaloids contained in green tea have a positive effect on the body, help dilate blood vessels and remove harmful components from the body. It contains almost 10 times more vitamins than black. This drink contains enough microelements, a large amount of protein and a lot of carbohydrates. Due to its high content of calcium, silicon, fluoride and other elements, green tea is very beneficial for gums and teeth, it also helps prevent tooth decay. Regular consumption of green tea significantly improves human immunity. This tea can regulate blood glucose levels, which is very important for those people who suffer from diabetes or have diseases of the endocrine system.

Juice

Advantages and disadvantages of coffee

Coffee is a common drink that contains large amounts of caffeine, antioxidants and other beneficial substances.

Numerous research studies confirm that coffee is beneficial for humans. Its effect on the body is multifaceted and is realized, to a greater extent, due to the effect of caffeine on the nervous and cardiovascular systems.

pros

Below are the main advantages of coffee:

1. Improving mental and physical performance. Numerous studies demonstrate that coffee improves the quality of any tasks performed, normalizes the emotional state and increases performance.
2. Loss of body weight. Coffee helps you lose weight because it activates the destruction of adipose tissue cells and normalizes metabolism at the adipocyte level. Scientists from the UK have found that coffee increases metabolism by 4%, and the rate of consumption of energy reserves (mainly due to adipose tissue) by 10-11%.
3. Prevention of type II diabetes mellitus. Foreign experts have found that systematically drinking 1 cup of coffee per day reduces the risk of developing this disease by 14%, 4 cups – by 30%. However, the specific mechanisms of influence on the development of diabetes mellitus have not been fully studied.
4. Preventing degenerative brain diseases . Coffee is good for the brain. With regular intake of an invigorating drink, a decrease in the incidence of such severe atrophic brain lesions as Alzheimer's disease, Pick's disease, and Parkinson's disease is observed.
5. Improved liver health. Cirrhosis is an extremely dangerous complication, the consequence of which is liver damage (alcoholic and viral hepatitis, benign tumors, fatty hepatosis, cholelithiasis, etc.). According to American scientists, coffee has a positive effect on the liver and can reduce the risk of developing a disorder by 20-80%.
6. Prevention of depression. It has been proven that coffee reduces the severity of depression by 20% and the likelihood of suicide by 53%.
7. Anticancer effect. Several cups of an invigorating drink, taken daily on a regular basis, prevent malignant degeneration of liver cells, colon and rectum, as well as skin.
8. Prevention of diseases of the cardiovascular system. The effect of coffee on the heart and blood vessels is currently controversial, but scientists have been able to prove that the invigorating drink is an effective means of preventing coronary heart disease, hemorrhagic stroke and myocardial infarction.
9. Reducing stone formation in the gallbladder. Experts from the USA have discovered that caffeine inhibits the formation of stones in the gallbladder by changing the activity of bile acid secretion and increasing the tone of the smooth muscles of the biliary tract.
10. Inhibition of uric acid synthesis. According to scientists from China, coffee slows down the formation of uric acid in the human body and stimulates its excretion through the urinary system. This helps prevent gout and hypertension.
11. General increase in life expectancy. The drink has a comprehensive effect on all systems of the human body, preventing a wide range of deadly diseases. It has been established that coffee reduces the risk of death by 30% from endocrine pathologies and by 16% from malignant and cardiovascular disorders.
12. Improved colon health. It has been proven that, due to the abundance of antioxidants in its composition, coffee prevents the occurrence of autoimmune (Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis), inflammatory and oncological diseases of the lower digestive tract.

Thus, coffee, due to its antioxidant and caffeine content, is extremely beneficial for the body. It helps normalize the emotional background, prevent a wide range of pathologies of the nervous, cardiovascular, endocrine and digestive systems, and improves the quality and length of life.

Minuses

However, coffee is not without its drawbacks. Sometimes (usually with an overdose) adverse reactions develop. These include:

1. Anxiety, increased suspiciousness and restlessness.
2. Irritability, negative and aggressive attitude towards everything around.
3. Dizziness and photopsia (dots, stripes, spots before the eyes).
4. Dyspeptic disorders (nausea, heartburn, pain in the liver).
5. Feeling of palpitations and interruptions in heart function.
6. Painful sensations in the calf muscles.
7. Addiction. Scientists claim that the body gets used to the constant presence of caffeine in the blood, which leads to the development of caffeine dependence, comparable to taking drugs (cocaine, morphine, etc.).
8. Abrupt refusal of coffee can lead to the development of withdrawal syndrome.
9. Disturbance of sleep structure. Sleep becomes shallow, and the time to fall asleep increases. To prevent this effect, you should take coffee no earlier than 6 hours before bedtime.
10. Coffee is usually higher in calories because milk or cream is often added to it. Also, many people admit that they find it much easier to drink tea without sugar than coffee.
11. Coffee can temporarily increase blood pressure. In tea, this effect is observed much less frequently.

Contraindications

It is also important to note that there is an impressive list of contraindications for taking the drink:

1. Pregnancy and breastfeeding period. In these conditions, you should completely give up coffee or reduce its consumption to 1-2 cups per day.
2. Sleep disorders.
3. Any mental disorders.
4. Diseases of the digestive system (acute gastritis or exacerbation of chronic gastritis, peptic ulcer, GERD).
5. Refractory hypertension, renal arterial hypertension.
6. Glaucoma.
7. Smoking.
8. Taking antidepressants (fluvoxamine) and oral contraceptives.
9. Iron-deficiency anemia. Other types of anemia are a relative contraindication.
10. Functional failure of the liver and kidneys.
11. Age less than 16 years.

Coffee has a tangible list of possible complications when taken and contraindications.

Tea

Calories in a cup of tea

The calorie content of tea depends on several indicators: the plant variety, the degree of oxidation of the leaf, the amount of tea leaves used and the brewing method. The higher the oxidation state, the more calories the drink contains:

1. Green. It oxidizes slightly (no more than 3-9%) to a light green or dark green hue. 1 cup of green tea contains 3 kcal.
2. White. It is made from unopened buds and leaves that undergo minimal processing. Its degree of oxidation reaches 12%. 1 cup of drink contains 3-4 kcal.
3. Black. It is highly oxidized (up to 80%). It retains fewer beneficial properties, but many people love it for its rich taste and aroma. 1 cup of black tea is 5 kcal.
4. Oolong and puer. Despite the fact that they are quite oxidized (up to 30-70%), they contain a minimum of calories. In 1 cup of puer tea - 2 kcal, oolong tea - 0 kcal.

Most often, oolong, pu-erh, and green tea are used for dietary purposes, the kcal of which is close to or equal to zero. Not only do they contain virtually no calories, but they also help suppress appetite without any negative health effects.

Benefits of coffee

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A cup of coffee contains approximately one and a half times more caffeine than a cup of tea. However, it will not harm if you follow the measure: from 250 to 300 mg daily. One cup contains approximately 90-150 mg of caffeine.

Coffee helps you lose weight if you drink it right before training: it activates fat burning and helps overcome the feeling of hunger. In addition, it is excellent invigorating. However, all these statements only work if we are talking about a freshly prepared, natural drink.

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On a note! Coffee can be used not only for internal use, but also in cosmetic procedures. For example, wraps based on coffee cake help restore skin tone and speed up the process of losing weight.

Calorie content of tea with sugar, milk, condensed milk and cream

If you are used to adding sugar , please note that each teaspoon of sugar adds 30 kcal to the drink, i.e. A 200-gram glass of tea and two spoons of sugar is 65 kcal.

If you are used to drinking 3 such glasses a day, this is already 195 kcal .

Milk tea , so respected by the British, will also increase your calorie intake. One tablespoon of medium-fat milk contains 10 kcal ; depending on preferences, 3 such spoons are added to tea.

That is, a cup of tea with milk is an average of 35 kcal . When replacing milk with high-fat cream, the calorie content of a serving will increase to 75 kcal .

Condensed milk , calorie content per 100g. is 336 kcal , also significantly increases the calories in your drink.

One teaspoon of condensed milk contains about 40 kcal , if you add two such spoons to a cup, add an 80 kcal .

Well, we figured out the topic: How many calories are in tea.

If you are watching your figure, it is useful to wean yourself from the habit of adding various “additives” .

This will not only help you stay in good shape, maintain energy and harmony of thoughts, but also discover the true taste of freshly brewed tea!

You might be interested in buying tea wholesale from the manufacturer InTea.

Enjoy your tea!
(c) Online tea store InTea.ru.

What's the harm in tea?

Considering the benefits of this aromatic drink, do not forget that some types of tea can be harmful to the body. Green tea contains many purines. These substances contribute to the formation of urea, which can accumulate in the human body and negatively affect metabolism. This leads to crystal formation or gout.

When people suffering from rheumatism or arthritis stop drinking tea or coffee, their condition noticeably improves. Very strong tea has an adverse effect on the functioning of the heart muscle and has a stimulating effect on the human nervous system. Caffeine is addictive, so a person cannot do without a cup of strong tea. Excessive consumption of this drink leads to insomnia, a person feels weak, tired and becomes irritable.

For many ailments, it is not recommended to drink green tea, such diseases include diseases of the duodenum, ulcers and gastritis. This drink can cause colic inside the intestines and stomach, so it is also contraindicated for pregnant women suffering from toxicosis.

It is highly not recommended to drink strong green tea for those people who suffer from hypertension or tachycardia, and are also sensitive to caffeine content. It is strictly forbidden to drink strong green tea for any illness that is accompanied by a strong increase in temperature.

When choosing tea, as well as additives and components for it, it is necessary to take into account the characteristics and reactions of each person’s body.

Buy only high-quality tea and consume it in optimal quantities, then the aromatic drink will only benefit the body.