{"id":702,"date":"2012-11-04T11:22:00","date_gmt":"2012-11-04T11:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/acneeinstein.com\/?p=702"},"modified":"2018-11-26T07:18:55","modified_gmt":"2018-11-26T07:18:55","slug":"hack-your-tea-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acneeinstein.com\/hack-your-tea-2\/","title":{"rendered":"How To (Yet Again) Get 3 Times More Out Of Your Tea – Hack Your Tea Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"
Tea drinkers are big losers. With that I of course mean that 80% or more of the antioxidants in tea are wasted. That’s nothing short of a disaster, if you drink green tea for acne or other health reasons. Because antioxidants are where all the health action is.<\/p>\n
We have two problems at our hands. The major issue is the absolutely abysmal bioavailability of green tea catechins (antioxidants). 80% of total catechins are destroyed during digestion. And the situation is even worse for the most important catechin, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), 90 – 95% of which perish before it can do you any good.<\/p>\n
The other problem is the rapid destruction of catechins in brewed tea, which can be an issue if you store tea in fridge or use it topically.<\/p>\n
Luckily scientists have figured out ways to fix this. So don’t be a loser. Join in me figuring out quick, simple and ‘less than a penny’ solutions to these problems.<\/p>\n
In the previous tea hacking post<\/a> I showed how to optimizing your brewing techniques gives you 5 times more antioxidants per cup. Add to that what you’ll learn in this post for a really powerful cup of acne-smashing goodness.<\/p>\n Some people consider brewing tea a chore. So they brew it in a large batch and store in the fridge. If this is you, then perhaps I can persuade you to change your habits.<\/p>\n <\/a>The problem is that the antioxidants in green tea interact with oxygen and degrade over time. I found a study that looked at degradation of green tea catechins (antioxidants).<\/p>\n This graph shows stability under various pH-levels. Source: Stability of tea theaflavins and catechins<\/a><\/p>\n The pH 7 line probably best represents what happens at home.<\/p>\n I know that green tea is slightly acid, so the pH 6.5 line is theoretically a better fit. But researchers in this study used extremely purified water, something that\u2019s not easily available for you and me. Even filtered water contains metal ions and minerals that over time degrade the catechins.<\/p>\n So consider the pH 6.5 line as the best case scenario and the pH 7 line as what happens under everyday conditions.<\/p>\n The problem with storing tea for a long time is that these antioxidants don\u2019t just degrade. Another study<\/a> (PDF) showed they turn into hydrogen peroxide, which is a highly inflammatory substance. However this didn\u2019t happen when pH level was below 6.<\/p>\nFresh tea doesn’t stay fresh for long<\/h2>\n