(08-09-10) Bottled tea beverages contain little or no antioxidants

by Ethan A. Huff, staff writer

Countless studies over the years about the health benefits of tea --
particularly green tea -- have driven many health-conscious consumers to stock
up on all the latest tea beverages that claim to improve health. But a recent
study has shown that most commercial bottled tea drinks contain virtually no
antioxidants and a whole lot of sugar or artificial sweeteners.

"Consumers understand very well the concept of the health benefits from
drinking tea or consuming other tea products," explained Shiming Li, Ph.D., an
analytical and natural product chemist, concerning the study. "However, there
is a huge gap between the perception that tea consumption is healthy and the
actual amount of the healthful nutrients -- polyphenols -- found in bottled tea
beverages. Our analysis of tea beverages found that the polyphenol content is
extremely low."

Polyphenols are the unique antioxidants commonly found in freshly-brewed tea
that exhibit anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer and anti-diabetic effects on the
body. But after analyzing six different brands of bottled tea beverages, Li and
his colleagues discovered that three contained "virtually no" polyphenols, and
the others had so little that they provided little benefit.

To put this into perspective, an average cup of home-brewed green or black tea
contains anywhere from 50 to 150 milligrams of polyphenols. The bottled teas
examined, on the other hand, contained as little as three milligrams of
polyphenols per bottle.

"Someone would have to drink bottle after bottle of these teas in some cases
to receive health benefits," emphasized Li.

Part of the reason why commercial bottled teas contain so little polyphenols
is that these antioxidants are what give tea its bitter flavor. So in order to
appeal to the masses, commercial producers often dilute, process and sweeten
the tea to make it more appealing to consumers.

Sources for this story include:

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_relea...

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