Carmen Basu investigates the medical substance behind your granny's cure for all ills

No matter what the crisis, whether in a hospital waiting room, down the police station, or in your own house, you can guarantee that some well meaning, kindly soul will be quick to offer you a cup of tea in an attempt to make you feel better. There is an innate assumption--especially, it seems, among the English--that tea is an immediate comforter, but is this a purely psychological phenomenon or is there some concrete physiological fact behind this idea?

It has recently been discussed by scientists gathered at the Royal Society of Medicine that tea contains nature's most powerful antioxidants, substances called flavonoids. Test tube studies have shown that flavonoids--which are plant derived polyphenols--are more potent in protecting the body from the damaging effects of free radicals than other familiar antioxidants--for example, vitamins E and C. Some flavonoids are thought to be an incredible 20 times more powerful than vitamin C. It has been suggested that flavonoids exhibit a wide range of biological effects, including antibacterial, anti-viral, anti-inflammatory, antiallergic, and vasodilatory actions. So not only does tea keep you young by banishing all those age accelerating free radicals from your body, it also peps up your immune system. For this reason flavonoids, as found in your humble cup of char, are incredibly marketable and are already being used as an ingredient in the latest cosmetic skin creams and makeup ranges.

On a more serious note, recent epidemiological evidence has raised the possibility that higher flavonoids intake may be associated with a reduced risk of coronary heart disease. This is an important discovery as tea could account for as much as one third of antioxidant activity in our diet. A new study showed that consuming one or more cups of tea a day decreased the risk of having a cardiovascular event by nearly 40%.¹ Consuming two or three cups was found to confer even greater health benefits when coupled with a decrease in fat intake and an increase in exercise. The presence of caffeine, which tea also contains, was found to have no adverse effects up to an intake of eight cups, whereas adding full fat milk and sugar to the beverage does detract slightly from the benefits of flavonoids. The trick to gain full benefits is to brew the tea for at least one minute to let all those health restoring flavonoids infuse into your mug.