Tea, the “Ambrosia” Beverage: Biochemical, Cellular, Molecular, and Clinical Evidences
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29 August 2022
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Besides water, tea (Camellia sinensis) is the most commonly consumed beverage in the world with a steadily increasing production load every year (5.3 billion kg for the year 2015). While it is an integral part of many people’s routine diet, it is also highly valued as a functional food due to its potential to mitigate chronic human diseases. Depending on the oxidation and fermentation techniques applied during processing, tea is commercially produced as six main varieties, namely black, green, white, yellow, oolong, and pu-erh. The polyphenolic richness of tea is accountable for its prophylactic effects, mainly in terms of antioxidant and antiinflammatory potentials both in vitro and in vivo. The underlying pathophysiology of a number of chronic diseases is attributed to oxidative stress and inflammation and attenuation of same constitutes an important target in managing diseased conditions. Polyphenols in green and black teas, mainly catechins, theaflavins, and thearubigins, have been shown to exert antioxidant, antiinflammatory, anticarcinogenic, antidiabetic, antiatherogenic, antimicrobial, and antineurodegenerative potential among others. The consumption of tea is gaining popularity preferentially as a medicinal beverage by virtue of its health-protective aspects, which are increasingly being evaluated scientifically. This chapter will comprehensively review the recent findings on the bioactivity of specific tea components in different diseased conditions. Particular emphasis will be laid on their prophylactic effects at biochemical, cellular, molecular, and clinical levels accompanied by a description of the molecular mechanisms underlying the claimed health benefits.