Chai tea is very beneficial for your overall health because it contains many advantageous ingredients. You may want to put down the coffee and taste some delicious chai tea. If you are a tea fanatic or are looking for something new, you should be aware of chai tea benefits.
There are many health benefits in tea. According to Dr. Axe, chai tea is high in health-benefitting polyphenols. Unlike green tea, chai tea contains fermented and oxidized black leaves as well as several spices.
What ingredients are in chai tea?
Black Tea
Containing antioxidants, black tea helps prevent cardiovascular disease and lower cholesterol. In addition, black tea offers protection against cancer due to its anti-cancer and anti-viral properties.
Ginger
Especially helpful to people suffering from arthritis, this ingredient helps with boosting the immune system, reduces inflammation, and improves circulation. Ginger can also help with an upset stomach, reduce nausea, and lower blood sugar levels.
Cardamom
Strengthening the immune system, this spice can also help with digestion. Cardamom also has antioxidant properties. As well as helping to detoxify the body, cardamom improves circulation and can fight respiratory allergies.
Fennel
Fennel acts as a herb that can maintain a healthy immune system. High in potassium and vitamin C, fennel is also high in fiber and can demonstrate anti-cancer effects.
Cinnamon
Cinnamon reduces blood pressure by balancing blood sugar and helps with digestion. Also, it has anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and antioxidant properties.
Black Pepper
Many spices within chai tea help with digestion, including black pepper. It aids in digestion by secreting digestive enzymes and in effect helps speed up the process of digesting fats and proteins, which can therefore affect metabolism.
Cloves
Cloves have some antibacterial properties and can help to reduce inflammation. In addition, cloves have pain relieving properties and can therefore help fight ulcer pain as well as assist in digestion.
Milk (optional)
As a good source of calcium and vitamin D, milk is a good option in adding to your chai tea mix for bone health.
Chai Tea Benefits
There are many stores and cafes that offer chai tea, such as a chai tea latte from Starbucks. However, there are also benefits for making chai tea at home including less added sugar and working around your own preferences.
The overall health benefits of drinking chai tea include how it can help in digestive aid, strengthening your immune system, antioxidant benefits, and reducing inflammation. All of the ingredients listed above that are found in chai tea have healthy properties.
Digestive Aid
The ingredients in chai tea including ginger, black pepper, and cinnamon all help with better digestion (as mentioned above).
Strengthens Your Immune System
Chai tea has the ingredients cardamom and ginger, which can help in strengthening the immune system because they have antioxidant properties.
Antioxidant Benefits
Many of the ingredients in chai tea have antioxidant benefits, as previously mentioned. Antioxidants help fight off harmful molecules called free radicals.
Reduces Inflammation
Chai tea benefits the skin because it has anti-inflammatory properties. Ginger is the main ingredient that reduces inflammation.
In addition to the benefits listed above, there are other significant advantages in drinking chai tea, such as preventing colds, boosting energy, and even has cancer-prevention properties.
Side Effects from Chai Tea
Although there are several health benefits from drinking chai tea, there are also some side effects you should be aware of.
Did you know that chai tea has caffeine? Chai tea has much less caffeine than coffee, but it still can have up to 72 mg of caffeine per cup. Unless you use a decaf tea, you should be aware of your caffeine intake even though it has a smaller amount than coffee.
Because chai tea has a lower level of caffeine, it may be beneficial for pregnant women. However, pregnant women should still be cautious because of the spice combination.
The spice and caffeine content in chai tea may cause issues for some, which is why you should be aware of the side effects associated with drinking chai tea. You can drink as much chai tea as you want, but in moderation. If you decide to drink chai tea a few times every day, you may want to check with your doctor because it can have an impact on your medications.
Taking both the benefits and side effects into consideration, chai tea is a delicious hot or cold beverage. It has many health benefits due to its various ingredients and spices.