“Tea has long been one of the most popular drinks in the world. People drink tea in the morning with breakfast, between meals to obtain a dose of caffeine in the afternoon and to relax before bedtime. Most tea research has focused on the effects of caffeine, the nutritional value of tea or how it compares to coffee, but now scientists say that this stimulating drink can provide a surprising benefit to health ” , the journalist Amudalat Ajasa anticipated in The Washington Post.
The legendary American Diario announced a report on the benefits of morning tea consumption that could eliminate dangerous water pollutants. Based on a new study, published in ACS Food Science & Technology, It was discovered that the leaves of the popular infusion naturally absorb heavy metals, filtering harmful water pollutants such as lead, cadmium or arsenic. The metals are trapped on the surface of the tea leaves and can simply remove the leaves or pulling the tea bag.
“With tea, water metals are eliminated, but tea leaves are not consumed later, that’s why it works,” he said Benjamin Shindelmain author of the study, who at the time of research was a doctoral student at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois and added: “As tea leaves release tasty chemical substances in the water, creating a tasty drink, they are equally as effective to extract metals from water. ”
Shindel’s study adds to a small set of research on the subject. An analysis published in November also discovered that tea leaves eliminated heavy metals from water. Saddam Husain Dhobi, The main author of the article said that this research highlights the value of tea and “its potential as a safe and effective method to mitigate harmful substances.”
In the new study, the researchers experienced with a variety of teas, methods of preparation and infusion times, and examined the difference between loose leaf tea and tea in bags. And the recipe to obtain the purest cup of tea depends on a main factor: time. The longer it is allowed to stand, the more metal it is eliminated.
These academics discovered that by letting an average cup rest for five minutes, there was a 15 percent reduction in lead concentrations, and that trend was maintained in all cups, regardless of whether the lead concentrations were higher or lower. “Letting tea stand at night, a common method for preparing ice tea, provides a better purification of water than letting it stand for a few minutes. But even a few minutes can result in moderate removal of metals,” Shindel said.
The researchers also examined different varieties of tea to determine if they contributed an additional benefit. Black and green teasses were tested in bags, as well as entire tea leaves, including green teas, oolong, white and black. HERBS were also tested to determine their ability to make metals adhere to the surface of the leaves.
The majority of the teas, including herbal, had a similar performance, except for chamomile flowers, which metal badly adsorbed. The study discovered that ground tea leaves have a better performance, compared to entire leaves, because when grinding an additional surface to attract pollutants.
The type of tea bag was also important. Cellulose sachets, a biodegradable and organic material derived from trees, were very effective in absorbing water metals. Nylon sachets, which can release billions of microplastics, did not have a good performance in the study, and cotton sachets showed trivial adsorption capabilities. Even so, the relative benefits of the different tea bags and types of tea were “marginal compared to the benefit of having more time,” says Shindel to the post.
Although the scientist of Illinois, who now works with the National Energy Technology Laboratory of the Department of Energy, He cannot definitely say what would be the result for human health for drinking tea, he suggested that he could lead to a decrease in diseases closely related to exposure to heavy metals. “People should be aware of the potential of tea preparation to adsorb a fraction of metals and potentially other contaminants of drinking water,” he concluded.
By rn
Image gallery
