Tea, originated in China, is popular all over the world. From firewood, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce and vinegar tea to piano, chess, calligraphy and painting, poetry and fragrant tea, drinking tea is not only a part of people's daily life, but also one of the contents of elegant life. What are the health benefits of a small piece of tea? What are the health benefits of drinking tea to the human body? Recently, the first tea health and culture forum was held in Beijing. Experts talked about healthy tea drinking. Recently, the first 2021 tea health and culture forum and "life optimization" tea health industry development summit, sponsored by life times, CO sponsored by satire and humor, and strategically cooperated with Fujian Strait Zhenhua Cultural Tourism Industry Co., Ltd., was held in Beijing in the form of online direct broadcasting. Experts and scholars from the tea field gathered in the clouds to talk about tea health. Bottom line: why drinking tea is good for health? It has become a consensus that drinking tea is beneficial to health, but many people may not know what health ingredients are in tea and what role they play. Ma Guansheng, director of the Department of nutrition and food hygiene of the school of public health of Peking University and vice president of the China Nutrition Society, introduced that domestic and foreign studies have shown that in addition to nutrients such as protein, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals, tea is also rich in phytochemicals such as tea polyphenols, caffeine, tea polysaccharides, tea pigments and theanine, which play an important role in maintaining human health. "Tea polyphenols are the most important active components in tea and the general name of polyphenols, including catechins, flavonoids, anthocyanins and phenolic acids." Ma Guansheng introduced that catechins account for more than 60% of the total amount of tea polyphenols. It is found that it has the functions of inhibiting bacterial reproduction and growth, anti-inflammatory and regulating intestinal flora. "Tea polyphenols contain multiple phenolic hydroxyl groups, which have strong antioxidant and free radical scavenging ability. It can be said to be a natural antioxidant." Ma Guansheng said. At the same time, tea polyphenols can also reduce blood pressure and blood lipid. "Some people are sensitive to tea and dare not drink green tea in the afternoon. Why? In fact, caffeine (also known as caffeine) in tea plays a role." Ma Guansheng said that caffeine is a central nervous stimulant, and an appropriate amount of caffeine has the effect of refreshing and anti fatigue. "Tea polysaccharide is a water-soluble polysaccharide, including xylose, fucose, glucose, galactose, etc." Ma Guansheng said that the content of tea polysaccharide in tea is not high, but it is an important active ingredient, which has the effects of reducing blood lipid, blood glucose and salt resistance. Why do different teas have different colors? Ma Guansheng explained that tea pigment plays a role. "Tea pigment has strong activity and poor structural stability, so the color of tea will change with the change of tea making time." he said that tea pigment has a strong role in enhancing immunity, reducing blood lipid and anti arteriosclerosis. "Why do different teas have different flavors? It is because the content of theanine is different." Ma Guansheng pointed out that theanine is a unique amino acid in tea, which is directly related to the quality of tea. Theanine has the functions of auxiliary inhibition of tumor, protection of brain nerve cells, cardio cerebrovascular, enhancement of memory, reduction of blood pressure and blood lipid. Theanine can also be used as a flavor improver in food and as a functional component in food and drugs. In addition, tea also contains a variety of minerals, including zinc, fluorine and selenium. Zinc is one of the essential trace elements for human body and plays an important role in the process of human growth and development; Fluoride has a protective effect on teeth. In particular, selenium, which is a component of glutathione peroxidase, can remove lipid peroxide in the body, protect cardiovascular and myocardial health and enhance immune function. Taking tea as the medium: find a suitable way to keep fit "In recent years, more and more in-depth research at home and abroad has confirmed the benefits of the main functional components of tea such as catechin, theaflavin, theanine and tea polysaccharide on human health, such as delaying aging, regulating metabolism (sugar, lipid and protein metabolism), weight loss, regulating intestinal flora, regulating immunity, antidepressant, anti-inflammatory, anti-virus and bacteriostasis, strengthening bones, etc." Liu Zhonghua, academician of the Chinese Academy of engineering and professor of Hunan Agricultural University, pointed out that in general, the three most valuable core health attributes of drinking tea are delaying aging, regulating metabolism and enhancing immunity. Drinking tea for a long time helps to improve physical quality. "In the future, more and more new tea functional components will be isolated and identified, and more new functions of existing tea active components will be explored." Liu Zhonghua said that researchers will more clearly reveal the multi-channel and multi-target synergistic or antagonistic mechanism between tea functional components. Liu Zhonghua reminded that although tea has good health attributes, we can't treat it as a medicine, let alone expect it to cure all diseases. "Drinking tea is a healthy lifestyle. The most important thing is to feel the pleasant mood brought by the color and aroma of tea, and effectively improve human health." "Tea is a national drink. We can cultivate a healthy lifestyle by drinking tea." Chen Zongmao, academician of the Chinese Academy of engineering and researcher of the Tea Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said that China has a very rich variety of tea. The six categories of green tea, black tea, black tea, white tea, yellow tea and oolong tea have their own characteristics, different flavors, aroma and health care functions, and are loved by people of different ages. More and more tea drinkers no longer just talk about health care, but take tea as the medium to really integrate the word "health care" into their daily life. Liu Baoyan, chief researcher of the Chinese Academy of traditional Chinese medicine, pointed out that traditional Chinese medicine divides people's physique into nine kinds. People with different physique should pay attention to the relationship between drink attributes and physique. If you have a cold constitution, you should drink less tea; If it is warm constitution, it is more suitable for drinking tea. TCM health care pays attention to the principle of "individualization", that is, do not blindly imitate others, but verify what food and drinks are more suitable for yourself through practice. "What is health preservation? Is to find a method beneficial to your health. If you stick to this method all year round and turn it into self action, you may benefit," Liu Baoyan said. There is a way to drink tea: choose a more scientific way to drink tea Chen Zongmao has lived in Hangzhou for a long time. Talking about his tea drinking habits, he said: "I usually drink more green tea. When I was young, I made four or five cups of tea a day, and now I also want three cups a day. Each cup of tea uses about 3 grams of tea. Add water three times or pour it out when I feel the taste is weak. However, people with poor gastrointestinal tract should drink less green tea and drink more black tea that is good for the intestines and stomach." Liu Zhonghua suggested that when drinking tea, the six tea categories should be drunk alternately. The six major teas have their own styles in color, aroma and health attributes. Although the health attributes are generally the same, there are differences in functional components. Drinking alternately can feel the flavor characteristics and charm of the six major teas and fully cover the health value of tea. "Green tea belongs to non fermented tea, white tea and yellow tea belong to slightly fermented tea, oolong tea belongs to semi fermented tea, black tea belongs to fully fermented tea, and black tea belongs to post fermented tea." Liu Zhonghua introduced that if the order is from light to heavy according to the degree of oxidation and fermentation, the order is green tea, white tea, yellow tea, oolong tea, black tea and black tea, which basically conforms to the order from cool to warm in traditional Chinese medicine. "When drinking tea, you can follow the law from light oxidation to heavy fermentation." Liu Zhonghua said, for example, drinking a cup of exciting green tea in the morning makes people more energetic. If you eat greasy at night, drinking a cup of black tea can assist metabolism; During the year, drink green tea or white tea that is more irritating and relatively cool in summer to relieve summer heat, and black tea or black tea that is less irritating and relatively warm in winter to warm the stomach; Throughout your life, you should also drink from light oxidation to heavy fermentation with age: when you are young, your sleep quality is better. Drinking a cup of green tea with high caffeine content will not affect your sleep; In old age, people tend to "sit and doze off and lie down and can't sleep". If they change to black tea with microbial fermentation and low caffeine content, their sleep will not be greatly affected. "Of course, these suggestions are not absolute. We should also consider individual tea drinking preferences and physical differences." Liu Zhonghua said that drinking 9-10 grams of tea every day is a medium amount, which can be brewed three times in the morning, middle and evening. The study found that the health efficacy of tea also has a dose effect relationship. If you want to get more health benefits through drinking tea, it is suggested to appropriately increase the amount of tea. It has been popular among the people that "you can't drink overnight tea". In this regard, Liu Zhonghua said: "if you make a cup of tea at 8 a.m., can you drink it at 4 p.m.? If you make a cup of tea at 10 p.m., can you drink it at 6 a.m. the next day? It's all 8 hours apart. Most people think the former can drink it, but why can't the latter drink it? After a cup of tea has been made for a long time, it just doesn't have the aroma and freshness at the beginning, but it can still drink it and won't threaten their health." Chen Zongmao also pointed out that the possible carcinogen "nitrosamine" does not exist after testing, but from a health point of view, overnight tea is not recommended. (outlook new era)