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The Health Benefits of Tea: White Tea Might Be the Best 
 By Jo Hedesan. Published in Self Alchemy http://selfalchemy.blogspot.com on 7 Mar 2009.
I didn’t use to drink a lot of tea in the past, preferring to indulge in coffee, soft drinksand others. Yet, for a reason or another, about two years ago I began drinking moreand more tea every day, perhaps because I was surrounded by roommates doing thesame thing. Now, I knew that tea was good for your health, but I never looked toomuch into it. What type of tea, how much and on what occasions? As I have becomequite health-conscious recently, I decided to do my research homework.
Choosing Tea
All tea types come from the leaves of the tea plant (Camellia sinensis), which wasoriginally cultivated in Southeast Asia. The difference between teas rests almostexclusively on the amount of processing being done to the leaves. White tea is processed the least, green tea – medium, while black tea – the most. The potency of  positive health effects have to do with this length of processing. Basically, tea that isleast processed contains the most catechins, an antioxidant that has been shown toinhibit bacteria and virus growth and other health problems. According to this, thehealthiest tea should be the white tea, which is however rare and more expensive.Green tea comes second-best, and least is black tea. Nevertheless, it should not beunderstood that black tea is ‘bad’ or inefficient; its consumption has been shown to produce some promising health effects.
Health Studies on Tea
First of all, it must be noted that not a lot of scientific research has been done on teauntil very recent years. Often, I have found these studies to be incomprehensive andunconnected, being undertaken in different institutions from Egypt to Croatia to theUS. This is what I have gathered:
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Teeth: Green tea apparently reduces teeth and gum disease. A separate black tea research reported similar reductions in mouth-related diseases.
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Immune system: all forms of tea seem to be good in helping the immunesystem fight bacteria and viruses. However, research shows that white tea may be the most effective.
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Antibiotics: a 2008 study from Egypt shows that taking antibiotics with greentea increases the potency of the medicine. No similar research was undertakenfor other types of tea.
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Bones and joints: research shows that green tea prevents and eases arthritisinflammation, cartilage breakdown and may improve bone mineral content for older women
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Cancer: so far, white tea has been shown to be most effective in cancer  prevention, as it prevents cancer-mutating DNA in cells. Researchers consider white tea is most effective against colon, stomach, esophageal and other gastrointestinal cancer. Other research shows that the risk of ovarian cancer is reduced by 46% for women that consume at least 2 cups of tea (any type) per day. A Japanese study also affirms that lung cancer may be prevented or inhibited by green tea.
 
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Heart disease: research has shown that both green tea reduce risk of heartattack, and both green and black tea lower the danger of atherosclerosis. A2006 Japanese study also showed that green tea is associated with lower risksof cardiovascular disease.
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Diabetes: both green and black tea prevent diabetes and reduce its ensuingcomplications.
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Stress Levels: research performed on black tea shows that it reduces stresshormones.
How to Keep Healthy with Tea
This brief review of several scientific studies shows that tea is a good prevention anddisease-reducer for a number of serious diseases. However, as the Mayo Clinicemphasizes, further in-depth studies are required before science will admit thequalities of tea. In the meantime, perhaps there is wisdom in the health benefits Asiancultures have always attributed to tea.So, how to keep health with tea?
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Drink more than 2-3 cups of tea per day but do not exaggerate (even if youwanted to, probably your bladder wouldn’t be able to take it!)
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Don’t forget that all tea (except herbal) contains caffeine: black tea containsroughly 1/3 of a cup of coffee, and green tea 1/6.
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As with everything consumed in excess, drinking too much (particularly black) tea may have adverse effects on health including caffeine-related problems (anxiety, sleep disorders, arrhythmias) and high fluoride-related problems (arthritis, osteoporosis, or even cancer)
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Drink tea, refrain from tea supplements. Research points out to the fact thattoo many tea antioxidants could cause chromosome damage and leukemia
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To the best extent, drink white tea; green tea is second best.
References
Kushiyama et al. Relationship Between Intake of Green Tea and Periodontal Disease
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 Journal of Periodontology
, 2009; 80 (3): 372American Society For Microbiology (2001, May 24). Tea Fights Cavities, ReducesPlaque.
ScienceDaily
. Retrieved March 7, 2009, from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/05/010523072047.htmSociety for General Microbiology (2008, April 1). Green Tea Helps Beat Superbugs,Study Suggests.
ScienceDaily
. Retrieved March 7, 2009, fromhttp://www.sciencedaily.com
 
/releases/2008/03/080330200640.htm National Institute Of Chemistry, Slovenia (2007, January 16). Cup Of Green Tea ToKeep The Bacteria Away.
ScienceDaily
. Retrieved March 7, 2009, fromhttp://www.sciencedaily.com
 
/releases/2007/01/070116132946.htmMayo Clinic (2008, April 6). Drinking Tea May Offer Health Benefits, But EvidenceStill Limited.
ScienceDaily
. Retrieved March 7, 2009, fromhttp://www.sciencedaily.com
 
/releases/2008/04/080402212206.htm
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