Although there are debates of which is the healthiest between tea and coffee, there isn’t much to choose between the two. Maybe tea wins by the slightest of margins because of the effects coffee can have on sleep.

Apart from that both tea and coffee provide many health benefits when drunk in moderation. Here are 6 of the best benefits you can gain from your favorite brew.

3 Health Benefits from Drinking Coffee

Drinking between two and four cups per day is the sweet spot for health benefits when drinking coffee.

Helps in Avoiding Dementia

A specific group of antioxidants found in coffee called polyphenols helps lower risks of dementia in later years because of how it aids in brain function.

Reduces Risk of Oral Cancers

American researchers found regular coffee drinkers can be 39% less likely to develop throat and oral cancers compared to people who don’t drink coffee.

Type 2 Diabetes

When you ditch the sugar in your coffee, research indicates you are less likely to develop type 2 diabetes.

Figures gained from researchers at Harvard University show a 50% reduction in the chance of developing diabetes. Coffee appears to do this with the high level of antioxidants which are in every cup you drink.

3 Health Benefits of Tea Drinking

Tea is packed full of healthy goodness, and if you split your day from drinking too much coffee, you can get increased health benefits and a good night’s sleep.

Women and Heart Attacks

A study was conducted of almost 4,000 women. It was found the tea drinkers among them had less dangerous amounts of fat and cholesterol in their arteries. It was unfortunate the same result wasn’t found in men.

Healthy Teeth

Tea does have a slight downside in this area. It has been shown to stain your teeth is you drink excessive amounts.

However, if you drink a moderate amount of tea without added sugar, there are a few benefits for your pearly whites. This comes down to two significant factors.

  • Tea contains a good source of fluoride, so, it can help protect your teeth from the buildup of plaque.
  • Tea contains compounds which attack harmful bacteria which can multiply inside the mouth if left these lead to cavities and gum disease.

Cancers

This health benefit is more associated with Green Tea compared to your regular black tea. What happens here is proteins which are responsible for inflammation, cell motility, and cell signalization are downregulated from having a direct impact.

This green tea intake has shown an association of decreasing some cancers such as breast and ovarian.

Earlier research came to show polyphenols found in green tea help shut down the body’s production of tumor cells. These polyphenols also discourage any growth in blood vessels which go to feeding these tumors.

EGCG one of the most prominent polyphenols can act as an antitumor and antiangiogenic agent where it aids tumor cell responses to effects of chemotherapy.

Why Green Tea?

All teas have health benefits, but much of the spotlight goes to green tea. The main reason is the darker teas are more processed, and in doing so, they go through a method of oxidization. Green tea isn’t oxidized, so it keeps all of its antioxidants and all of its caffeine content.

Coffee and Tea Health Benefit Summary

Like tea, the better the quality of the coffee you choose the more abundant the health benefits. If you went on any barista training course, they would tell you this right at the beginning. Keep your coffee beans fresh, and you can gain the most amounts of benefits.

Drinking both your tea and coffee without added sugar and milk will also give you more benefits. This is especially true with tea because milk has been shown to block some of the antioxidant effects.

Proteins which are contained in milk called caseins interact with tea and decrease concentrations of the teas flavonoids. It is these flavonoids which are responsible for the health effects which tea brings.

If you find you can’t drink tea in its natural form a good squeeze of lemon juice can change the taste dramatically and also helps to stabilize all of the beneficial catechins so the body can readily absorb more of them.

If you are considering drinking both, it is advisable to only drink coffee until lunchtime and then revert to tea for the afternoon and early evening. This way you get the best of both, and you will find you won’t be as stimulated come bedtime.