Many people enjoy brewing a pot of Gongfu tea after meals, which is a very pleasant experience. The elderly say that drinking tea can lower blood lipids and blood pressure, and that having a cup after a heavy meal is beneficial to the body. So, is tea really that effective? Let's take a look together to see if drinking tea can really lower lipids and blood pressure!
What are the benefits of drinking tea?
1. Refreshes the mind, makes people feel energetic, and enhances memory.
2. Stimulates the central nervous system and increases physical ability.
3. Stimulates gastric juice secretion, aids digestion, increases appetite, and eliminates bad breath.
4. Drinking tea before alcohol can prevent drunkenness.
5. Relieves fatigue and promotes metabolism.
6. Slows down the aging process and prolongs life.
7. Strengthens teeth and bones, and prevents cavities.
8. Lowers blood cholesterol and lipid levels, preventing cardiovascular diseases such as arteriosclerosis, hypertension, and cerebral thrombosis.
Why can tea lower blood lipids?
The deposition of sediment in a river is a slow process, and the same is true for the deposition of lipids in the blood, which is not easily noticeable. Frequently eating greasy food or with advancing age, the chances of obesity and high blood lipids increase significantly. High blood lipids are a potential risk for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Therefore, for those who often eat greasy food and for middle-aged and elderly people, regulating blood lipids is very important. Tea is a good drink for lowering lipids, and its lipid-lowering effect is attributed to the rich tea polyphenols, tea polysaccharides, tea pigments, and vitamin C in it.
First, tea polyphenols, whether in monomer or polymerized form (such as tea pigments like theaflavins), have a significant effect on lowering blood lipids. The mechanism by which tea polyphenols lower blood lipids is mainly through the following pathways: inhibiting the uptake and absorption of cholesterol by intestinal tissues; inhibiting cholesterol synthesis in the body and reducing lipoprotein lipase activity; inhibiting lipoprotein synthesis, accelerating lipid breakdown, promoting the conversion of cholesterol into bile acids, and lowering cholesterol levels.
Second, tea polyphenols can dissolve fat: they play an important role in fat metabolism, not only significantly inhibiting the increase of plasma and liver cholesterol but also promoting the excretion of lipid compounds from the feces. In addition to tea polyphenols, tea polysaccharides also have a significant therapeutic effect on high blood lipids. Tea polysaccharides can increase the content of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and can also bind to lipoprotein lipase, promoting the entry of arterial wall lipoprotein lipase into the blood.