Does Tea Help in Antiaging

by John
(India)

I have been frequently drinking tea since I’m 21 years old. I usually take 4 cups of strong black tea everyday. Now I’m nearing 40, but I look somewhat around 30.

Did this change happen due to the black tea I drink? Does tea have any antiaging chemicals or enzymes? Further my friends all look older than their age and they never drink the amount of tea I drink.

Can you please help me about this? Is drinking too much black tea harmful?

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Aug 22, 2009
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Tea Drinking and Antiaging
by: George Parigian Jr.

Hi John,

Thanks for this question. It’s a good one.

To begin with ALL teas have antioxidant properties that vary according to how they are harvested and prepared. It appears that the antioxidant benefits of tea are highest in white tea and lower in the darker tea.

This is due to the amount of oxidation the tea undergoes when it is being processed. White tea has the lowest oxidation and so it has the highest amount of antioxidants (called catechins), while black tea has the lowest amount of catechins.

However, all teas (white, green, black) have very strong antioxidant properties, many times what is provided by vitamin-c. This is due to natural chemicals called “polyphenols” which protect cells from free radicals and thus help preserve the youthful appearance that you speak of.

I have no doubt that your drinking of black tea has contributed to your lack of skin aging and youthful appearance.

There are a number of ways to get the benefits of tea besides drinking it. You can take it in pills or capsules, and in capsule form it is arguably more potent, because it is an extract in which the antioxidants are even more concentrated than in a liquid.

It has been estimate that to get the full antiaging effect from tea drinking, you would have to consume something like 10-20 cups per day, however I believe that the antiaging benefits begin at much lower consumption, even though higher consumption is more beneficial.

As for drinking too much black tea, I don’t think that would be a problem, unless your body had some particular sensitivity to it. The caffeine content of the tea could be a problem for some people, but again it is an individual thing.

Your youthful looking skin is a good indicator that you are doing something very right in terms of you tea drinking, so by all means continue. You might want to try some white and green tea as well for their even higher antioxidant protections.

Good Luck and Good Health,

George

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