Drink Tea Like Your Heart Depends on It...Because, It Just Might...
Is it just a coincidence that study after study show drinking enough of the right teas can lead to cardiovascular health...?
As you might guess there just may be an important connection between heart health and tea...
A great deal of research has been done over decades attempting to determine if a connection exists between Camellia sinensis (the tea plant) and cardiovascular wellbeing.
Exploring the accumulated findings gives us greater insight into evidence supporting the connection between tea and cardiovascular health.
Here are some thoughts...you decide.
Research is ongoing, but evidence has been piling up. Extensive studies have been and are being conduced on Cardiac Events, Cholesterol Reduction, and Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) Risk Factors.
I've taken a closer look to better understand heart health, how to stay mindful of it in our daily lives and to better understand the role that tea can play. I've filtered the medical research and converted it to my student of tea perspective.
How do we define Cardiovascular Health?
Think of Cardiovascular Health as health of the heart and blood vessels...
Our first thought when we hear cardiovascular health is of our heart, but cardiovascular wellbeing extends well beyond the heart to concerns relative to the circulatory system...the blood carrying vessels that make it up.
OK, then what is Cardiovascular Disease?
Cardiovascular Disease or CVD is not one but numerous conditions including coronary heart disease, cerebrovascular disease, and rheumatic heart disease to name a few. The American Heart Association tells us the CVDs are the globally leading cause of death tallying almost 18 million each year.*
What are the primary conditions leading to Cardiovascular Disease?
Many forms of the more general term heart disease are related to the build up of plaque in arteries narrowing the channel size of the vessels making it more difficult for blood to flow.
This condition, Atherosclerosis in some cases can block blood flow if a blood clot forms leading to heart attack or stroke.
Blocked blood flow is the common denominator with both heart attack and stroke. With a heart attack, the blockage is to part of the heart muscle causing it to start to die, and with stroke, blockage to part of the brain can result in loss of functions controlled by that part of the brain.
So how does plaque build up in our circulatory system?
Plaque build up, narrowing arteries and restricting blood flow, is made up of fats and the two major concerns are with saturated fats and trans fats. If our diet includes substantial amounts of these, bad cholesterol (LDL) levels in our blood are raised. Increased LDL along with other predisposed factors combine to create plaque build up.**
- When blood pressure remains high artery damage can occur making them prone to plaque formation by creating lodging locations for plaque..
- Excessive sugar in blood can also damage blood vessel walls leading to atherosclerosis.
- Overdoing it with alcohol can lead to high blood pressure, artery damage and plaque formation.
- Without exercise risk increases for becoming overweight, leading to high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol levels all which can contribute to plaque build up.
- Saturated fat is a big one that can lead to atherosclerosis and plaque buildup. Butter, whole fat dairy products, cheese, marbled meat, processed meat and some oils are things to pay attention to and to limit consumption of.
- Trans fats taste great, but damage arteries and can become deposited in the form of plaque. Reading labels and avoiding processed foods with trans fats can help avoid overconsumption.
- Dietary cholesterol, that is meat, eggs, cheese and dairy products are all rich in dietary cholesterol that can be a reason for plaque build up.
- Smoking...need I say more? Nicotine can damage arterial lining leading to damaged arteries and easy plaque build up.
Play the Long Game...it's all about lifestyle...
The good news here is that if we choose to, we can play a critical role in influencing Cardiovascular Health.
This situation we can work on every day, continually improving with the choices we make to conduct our lives. We are living in the age of information, and do not have the dominating issue that our ancestors did...they did not know better.
My grandmother could have made Martha Stewart look like a novice in the kitchen but a case could be made that my grandfather only made it to his late 60's at which point he succumbed to butter.
In those times there were no such things as nutrition labels or seat belts...but there was also little fast food.
No, lack of information is not our issue today...we know better.
We will get to the opportunity tea offers for contributing to cardiovascular wellbeing in a moment, but with a clearer understanding of the causes of plaque buildup, here are a few foods to add to your diet to assist in preventing plaque buildup...**
- Lightly steamed or raw Asparagus.
- Add the superfood Avocado to salads, sandwiches & smoothies to both reduce blood cholesterol and increase HDL's artery plaque unclogging ability.
- Broccoli can help lower LDL and also lower blood pressure, both helping prevent plaque buildup.
- Increase HDL (good cholesterol) by including Cranberries in your daily diet.
- Fish is excellent, including fish high in good fats, cold-water fish like salmon, tuna, mackerel and sardines.
- The best snack food is nuts, providing high vitamin E & mono unsaturated fats while almonds are especially heart healthy.
Readjust through mindfulness, create the conditions for improvement and success.
The American Heart Association states that heart-healthy living involves understanding your risks, making healthy choices, and taking steps to reduce your chances of getting heart disease, including coronary heart disease, the most common type.
Yes mindfulness. Make good choices and continue to improve. Discipline is the hardest, but if we take a multi-pronged approach we can transition to a continually improving lifestyle that can make our risk of developing heart disease less, And depending on you, maybe much less.
DESD = Diet, exercise, sleep, and discipline
Where does Tea come into the Heart Health Picture?
It is in the diet part, along with the Mediterranean Diet.* The right teas however play an integral part in our quest for Cardiovascular Wellbeing.
Tea may just be the best part. Enjoying heart-supporting teas can not only be a blissfully pleasant experience, but adopting a regimen of high-value-content teas has shown to reduce risk of not only cardiovascular disease, but can also support weight control, cognitive performance and boost immunity.
In the publication Tea & Health, The Tea Council of the USA gives us insight into how Camellia sinensis contributes to lessening risk of Cardiovascular Disease: Human population studies have found that people who regularly consume three or more cups of black tea per day have reduced risk of heart disease and stroke. Clinical studies suggest that the risk reduction associated with tea consumption may be due to improvement in some risk factors for cardiovascular disease, including blood vessel function, platelet function and reduction in oxidative damage.
The Tea & Health report goes on to list dozens of studies supporting both green and black teas positive results in supporting cardiovascular health.
Try balancing your teas, taking comprehensive advantage of Camellia sinensis...
I start my day with outstanding green tea...every morning. This habit started long ago and was intended to make sure I did not miss-out on getting the antioxidants I wanted to get in every day.
By mid day I'm often switching over to oolong or black tea and normally wind-up my tea-drinking day with a cup or three of dark tea. Why?
I like the idea of taking advantage of what tea can do for me at different stages of oxidation...the difference between tea types...and I've come to appreciate and savor the nuance and character of the change in Camellia sinensis at it's stages of oxidation.
Tea is 10,000 Medicines
A study done in Japan on more than 40,000 middle-aged men and women that consumed 17 ounces of green tea a day showed a reduced risk of death from cardiovascular disease by 22-33 percent.
Study after study show encouraging results for the consumption of Camellia sinensis to lessen instances of serum cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations, heart attack and stroke.
The advantage of drinking high-content-value teas extends way beyond cardiovascular health. Adopting a Healthy Tea Lifestyle incents us to stay disciplined, to do more, to go further, and to benefit from the wide range of preventative attributes of tea.
Tea can be a cornerstone of your wellbeing & longevity quest, as well as an incentive influencing behavioral changes all working together, creating a better you.
Coming along with supporting heart health for free, discovering and making high-value-content teas part of your lifestyle will be; improved immunity & cognitive function, better sleep, reducing biological age, improved microbiome, lowering blood pressure, improved circulation, improved vitality...AND a state of euphoria experiencing the drinking pleasure quality tea can bring into our lives.
The Tea Council of the USA's summary of Teas Role in Cardiovascular Health suggest that tea has multifunctional mechanisms by which tea flavonoids function working in unison to effect endothelial function (ability of blood vessels to allow proper blood flow), serum cholesterol levels, and LDL cholesterol oxidation.
My Take, and Suggested teas...
By now you know that I am a believer in tea's place in our quest for wellbeing & longevity. My study of tea & health benefits over decades continues to support the invaluable contribution Camellia sinensis can make to our lifestyle and desire for long-term quality of life.
Research that I have found, while exciting for tea drinkers, normally only specified a type of tea used in the studies, never a specific tea.
So now, I'm going to rely on experience and time studying tea & it's effects to make some recommendations for teas to enjoy as you journey to healthier cardiovascular health.
- Blood Pressure: Teas that can help with perspective, helping control anxiousness and allow easier relaxation and sleep. Artery damage from high blood pressure can increase opportunity for plaque buildup. High l-Theanine teas can help reduce blood pressure inducing calm and relaxation. View High l-Theanine Teas and learn more about them here.
- Improved Blood Flow: Types of tea shown in research studies to help with artery flexibility, improved blood flow resulting in lower blood pressure. Cardiovascular Health has long been believed to the strong suit of Black Teas...See suggested black teas and their benefits here...
- LDL Cholesterol Reduction: Teas with a reputation or clinical study data that supports reduced bad cholesterol levels: The reputation for this unique tea type, Pu-erh and Dark Tea has been of Cardiovascular Health, both reducing undesirable cholesterol and improving circulation. I personally have had countless people tell me that adding consumption of some of these teas to their comprehensive heart-healthy regimen has contributed to lowering LDL and improving Cardiovascular Health. See our Golden Flower Tea here... See our complete Dark Tea Collection here...
Bottom Line...Lot's of impressive evidence of the right teas influencing cardiovascular wellbeing encourages us to take advantage of the possibilities with tea...
OK, so it is for you to decide. I've tried to decipher the research and lay-out what I've experienced with tea.
I don't see tea as a stand-alone answer, but as a component of a comprehensive wellbeing lifestyle that should be adopted for those looking for long-term quality of life...
Thanks for listening...Drink Tea Like Your Heart Depends on It...Because, It Just Might...
*See more about what cardiovascular disease is here
*See more about the Mediterranean Diet here...
** See more about the causes of plaque buildup in your arteries here
