Tuesday, February 03, 2009

Milk Tea – Healthy or Not Healthy?




Last Friday my boyfriend and I went to the mall and while roaming around, we got hungry. We’ve came across this Japanese kinda resto or something. It’s called Bubble tea. My boyfriend wants to eat sashimi and sushi and I’d like to eat some pizza. Fortunately, they’ve got pizza! Booyah!


I was so amazed that they have pizza along with their nice Japanese foods. And they have so many tea flavors. I really love the hot Japanese Green Milk Tea. That was so awesome. I’ve bought 1 hot Japanese green milk tea while we’re there eating pizza. Then before got home, I bought another one. I was addicted to that beverage. I also tried their Royal milk tea. It was really good and the tapioca pearls are so good. I wish they have more branches so I can buy their delicious beverage every day.

I was thinking that milk tea is a very healthy drink because you have the milk and also the tea. Milk has so many health benefits as well as tea. So I read more about milk tea and found out that milk counteracts the health benefits of tea. There are some researches saying that milk cancels the health benefits of drinking tea.

If you are looking for the health benefits of drinking tea here they are:
1. Tea contains antioxidants that protect your body from aging and toxins
2. Tea contains less caffeine than coffee, so if drinking coffee gives you the jitters, you may want to switch to tea
3. Tea may reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke.
4. Tea can protect you against cancer. Tea contains polyphenols which have cancer-fighting effects.
5. Tea is calorie free unless you add sweeteners or milk
6. Tea increases your metabolism
7. Tea may reduce the risk of high blood pressure

“The beneficial effects of drinking black tea are completely prevented by the addition of milk, said Dr Verena Stangl, a cardiologist at the hospital.

“If you want to drink tea to have the beneficial health effects you has to drink it without milk. That is clearly shown by our experiments,” she told Reuters.

“Since milk appears to modify the biological activities of tea ingredients, it is likely that the anti-tumor effects of tea could be affected as well,” said Stangl.

The study revealed that a type of protein found in milk called caseins decrease the amount of heart healthy compounds known as catechins that are found in tea.

So I think it’s better to drink green tea or black tea alone.