a School of Environmental and Life Sciences, University of Newcastle , Ourimbah , New South Wales , Australia.
Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 2014;54(4):523-36. doi: 10.1080/10408398.2011.594184.
Tea has been widely consumed around the world for thousands of years and drinking tea is a daily habit for people of all ages. Tea is a major source of flavonoids, which have become well known as antioxidants. Tea also contains caffeine and theanine, which have been found to associate with health benefits. Many animal and epidemiological studies have been conducted to investigate the link between tea consumption and human health. However, common questions that arise about tea consumption include: whether all teas are the same, why drinking tea is linked with health benefits, how do the different ways of tea preparation impact on availability of tea components, how much and how long a person should consume tea to obtain health benefits, and whether there is any negative health effect associated with drinking tea. To answer these questions, this paper outlines the tea components and their link to human health, discusses major factors affecting availability of tea components in a tea cup, and reviews the latest epidemiological evidence linking tea consumption to human health.
茶在全世界已经被广泛饮用了数千年，而且喝茶是各个年龄段人群的日常习惯。茶是类黄酮的主要来源，类黄酮已作为抗氧化剂广为人知。茶还含有咖啡因和茶氨酸，它们与健康益处有关。许多动物和流行病学研究已经开展，以调查茶消费与人类健康之间的联系。然而，关于茶消费经常出现的问题包括：所有茶是否都一样，为什么喝茶与健康益处有关，不同的泡茶方式如何影响茶成分的可用性，一个人应该喝多少茶和喝多长时间才能获得健康益处，以及喝茶是否会对健康有任何负面影响。为了回答这些问题，本文概述了茶的成分及其与人类健康的关系，讨论了影响茶杯中茶成分可用性的主要因素，并回顾了将茶消费与人类健康联系起来的最新流行病学证据。
