Tea comes in four main varieties – black, green, white, and oolong. While they come from the same plant, it is the processing that sets them apart.
Green and white tea are not fermented, black tea is entirely fermented. Oolong tea lies somewhere between black and green tea.
This tea originates from China and has some of the combined benefits of green and black tea.
It is a little-known tea as compared to its black and green counterparts, but on top of having a unique flavor, it offers numerous benefits that may boost your health.
Oolong Tea Benefits to Boost Your Health
1. May Boost Your Metabolism
Your metabolism will be high for up to two hours after drinking oolong tea. A team of Japanese researchers found that oolong tea increased metabolism by up to 20 percent for two hours. This is twice as strong as the famed green tea.
If you pair it with exercise and a good diet free of processed foods and excess sugars, it can help you get rid of unwanted and dangerous fat in your body.
2. May Reduce Belly Fat
This tea inhibits enzymes that promote the accumulation of fat in your body.
Shedding fat around the waistline can be particularly hard, but with the help of the caffeine and Epigallo Catechins (ECG) in this tea, it is much easier to shed belly fat according to this study. These two promote faster fat oxidation.
3. Promotes Heart Health
Drinking oolong tea can help you keep heart diseases at bay. A study looking into the relationship of this tea and cholesterol levels found remarkably low amounts of bad cholesterol in people who drank at least 10 ounces in a week.
Drinking a cup or more can reduce heart disease in men, according to this study that looked at the relationship between heart disease and coffee and different teas.
4. May Enhance Weight Loss
Taking four cups of oolong tea is a natural, stress-free way of shedding those extra pounds if this Chinese study is anything to go by. In the study, 8g of this tea was administered to 102 overweight men for 6 weeks.
At the end of the study, 70% of them lost 1kg. 22% of them lost up to 3kgs. You can, therefore, incorporate oolong tea into your diet to reduce body weight, body fat content and to some extent prevent obesity.
5. Lowers the Risk of Cancer
A Taiwanese study concluded that for every cup of oolong tea, the risk of throat and neck cancer could be lowered by up to 4%. The same study found that green tea had even better results, with the ability to lower this risk by up to 6%.
Drinking oolong, black and green tea all collectively can lower the risk of ovarian cancer in women, according to this study.
6. Good for Dental Health
Too much fluoride is harmful, but small doses of it play a vital role in your overall dental health. Oolong, just like other teas, has fluoride deposits in just the right amounts.
Taking this tea will give you just enough fluoride to prevent cavities. Oolong tea has relatively lower fluoride content than black and green tea.
7. May Prevent Diabetes
If you want to keep Type II diabetes at bay, oolong tea might just do the trick.
A report in the American Diabetes Association journal says drinking six cups of this tea for a month will remarkably reduce blood sugar levels and reduce insulin resistance. These findings are also presented in this 2003 study.
8. Improves Skin Health
For people who have long been plagued by skin conditions like eczema, oolong tea is good news. Three cups a day of this tea for six months might just grant you respite from the rashes and itch caused by eczema and other skin allergies.
This study showed a decrease in inflammation and itching among participants who took 3 cups of oolong tea daily for a month. Oolong tea is rich in anti-allergenic antioxidants that will not only suppress such allergies but will improve the appearance of your skin.
9. A Good Substitute for Energy Drinks
The list of risks that accompany commercial energy drinks is endless: from stomach irritation, increased blood pressure to anxiety. How can you boost your energy levels without exposing yourself to these deadly side effects? You take oolong tea!
It is natural, unsweetened with no added sugars and artificial flavors but will do the job efficiently. This tea contains caffeine in moderate amounts that will improve your mental alertness without giving you excessive energy spikes.
10. Fixes Digestive Problems
Oolong tea is good for people who suffer acid reflux because it reduces the acidity in the gut. Its anti-inflammatory properties make it great for people with ulcers too.
You may want to take a cup or more if you are prone to an upset stomach, it can greatly reduce bad bacteria in the stomach. The stomach has both good and bad bacteria, but eating processed and refined foods deplete the good ones. Oolong tea can replenish the good while fighting the bad bacteria.
11. Keeps Your Bones Strong
Your bones degenerate and become weaker as you grow older. This is why older people are more prone to arthritis and brittle bones that might affect their mobility.
Oolong tea is laden with antioxidants that work on the genes responsible for swelling in joints and bone loss. It helps maintain bone density and mass.
12. Helps Beat Stress
The polyphenols in oolong tea help reduce stress levels and put you in a better mood. This research states that Oolong tea has amino acids that are related to sleep and relaxation.
It also counters feelings of anxiety and depression. If depression is left unchecked it can lead to overindulgence in comfort food which is never good news if you want to lose weight.
The Bottom Line
Oolong tea works best in its unsweetened state because then you will not have to worry about extra calories in every cup.
It has a nice, unique flavor that speaks for itself even without the sugar. However, if you must sweeten it, use small amounts of honey.
Adding Oolong tea to your diet can tremendously improve your health. And if you’re following a proven weight loss plan like this one, it will make it much easier for you to reach your weight goal.
[related_posts_by_tax posts_per_page="4"]
