Many tea businesses are taking advantage of January’s status as National Hot Tea Month to remind consumers of tea’s health benefits. But with so many claims about tea out there, it’s hard to keep up with what’s established and what’s hearsay.

To help sort it out, World Tea News Contributing Editor Lindsey Goodwin asked Doug Balentine, director of nutrition sciences for Lipton/Unilever, some of the questions tearoom owners are frequently asked. Balentine has been involved with tea and health research for the last 15 years and is the co-author of 25-plus papers on the subject. His answers to common questions follow.

1. Is green tea the healthiest kind?
“When green, oolong and black teas are studied together, they have similar benefits. However, if you’re particularly looking to get catechins (antioxidants that give tea its brisk flavor), then green is a better source than black.”

2. I heard that tea is a miracle cure for (obesity, cancer, etc.). Is that true?
“The claims people are making about the health benefits of tea are not reflective of the balance of the science. While there is science in many areas either from animal studies or poorly done clinical or population-based studies, people are using single studies to draw conclusions rather than looking at the totality of the evidence.”

3. What’s it proven to do?
“The strongest evidence shows that regular tea drinking is associated with improving blood vessel function. While the reasons for this benefit are not fully understood, the science does not support that is has a cholesterol-lowering effect.”

4. Does tea increase metabolism?
“In studies emerging from Asia and, more recently, the U.S., there is some suggestion that drinking enough green tea to provide 500 or 600 milligrams of catechins per day has a role in reducing abdominal fat through modifying fat oxidation, but there’s no evidence that tea drinking has a significant impact on metabolism, aside from the weak effects of caffeine consumption.”

5. Can tea help me detox?
“There’s some data in animal studies that would suggest tea changes detoxification pathways, but we have no data to show that it works in people other than the benefits that you get from consuming sufficient amounts of fluid.”

6. Can tea fight colds?
“There is some evidence that L-theanine (an amino acid found almost exclusively in tea) can help modulate certain aspects of immune response. However, there’s no data to say that has any real effect in reducing the risk or severity of common colds.”

7. Does tea prevent cancer?
“The work done on the role of tea in cancer prevention continues to be compelling. The animal and mechanistic data is quite strong, but epidemiological results are less consistent than the data around heart health, and without clinical trials and case studies you can’t say that it works. Research needs to be continued.”

8. How does tea affect the brain?
“Regular consumption of tea throughout the day has been associated with a more alert state of mind and a more consistent mood. The recent studies of John Fox (professor of neuroscience, biology and psychology at City College of the City University of New York) and others have shown that when people drink L-theanine in combination with caffeine, you see alpha wave patterns in the brain that are associated with improved ability to perform cognitive tasks.”

9. I get jittery from coffee, but not from tea. Why?
“Tea generally contains half the caffeine of coffee. Also, there is some data to suggest that L-theanine modulates the effects of caffeine.”

10. I have anemia. What should I know about iron absorption and tea?
“Any foods high in phenolics – tea, cocoa, spinach, soy – can bind with iron. People with anemia should drink tea between meals, so tea won’t impact iron absorption from meals. If they drink tea with meals, they should add lemon, because it prevents the binding of non-heme iron to the flavonoids of tea.”

11. How does tea affect dental health?
“There is some reasonably good data to suggest flavonoids in tea inhibit growth of bacteria in the oral cavity, inhibit enzymes that are responsible for the formation of plaque and improve microflora of the oral cavity.”

12. How can I get the most benefits from tea?
“Regular drinking of two to three cups of tea throughout the day seems to be ideal. Brew tea for two to five minutes to be able to get all of the flavonoids out. If you’re getting tea in RTD form, buy teas that give you information about the flavonoid level.”