Drinking Tea Under 6 Situations May Be Harmful To Health

Last Updated on 11/13/2021 by Desmond

An ancient Chinese medical classic, “Compendium of Materia Medica,” mentioned the benefits of tea by a long length. We can see that people have realized tea is a healthy beverage in the old-time and praised it. However, every good thing has its limits. Suppose you are drinking tea in unbefitting situations. In that case, it can not bring you any benefit, and it may make some bad impacts on your health. Here are 6 situations not recommended to drinking tea:

P. S. The tea we talk about in this article refers to the true teas made from the Camellia Sinensis‘ leaves. They contain caffeine naturally, and that’s the most different from most herbal teas.

Drinking Strong Tea or Drink It Too Much

First, there is no evidence to show that having tea for the long term harms health. Still, you can not overconsume it even though it is a healthy drink. The primary component of tea is water; once you drink it too much in a short period, the urination frequency will increase. This is considered not good in TCM because it makes the kidney weak.

What if to brew the tea stronger to reduce the ratio of water?

That is not good too.

Tea brings benefits to the body and stimulates at the same time, such as refreshment and a slight hunger senses. The tea in a high concentration will amplify these effects and lead to vigilance, insomnia(even you drink it 5-6 before bed,) and starving. At this time, you will know that drinking strong tea is not a good decision.

A report from China suggested that the daily dry-leaves consumption of an adult should be at 5-15g, the water for brewing them should be at 400-1500ml. Of course, it is still depending on the personal constitution. You need to find out the most comfortable amount yourself.

Drinking The Tea Which After Placed For A Long Time

Many times we made up a cup of tea, then we didn’t take it at the time for many reasons, even forgot it after a while. When we noticed it again, the tea had been placed for a long time, even overnight. Now here comes the question – is it still be drinkable?

The answer is no.

First, the molecules are very active in the tea made with hot water, so you can see the fragrance disappear soon. To place the hot tea for a long time, some substances in it will change. For example, the greatest nutrition – tea polyphenols, is easy to oxidize and combine with the metal ion in water, forming the tea stain. These reactants can not be absorbed by the human body, and they are without any benefit. They may also bring some potential side effects to health. Worthing to know, the cold-brewed tea also has this problem once it spends too much time to prepare.

Then, we know tea is nutrient-rich, and the bacterias know that either. After a long time placing, the tea cold down and becomes a wonderful breeding ground for bacterias. It’s not hard to expect what will happen if we drink this cup of tea.

Drinking Tea On An Empty Stomach

There is a legend about how tea was found. A great ancestor named Shen Nung wanted to learn all the effects of the wild herbs. He ate each one he saw and recorded what would happen to his body. One time he was poisoned, nearly dying. Fortunately, he found a tea tree, he picked up a leaf and ate. Shen Nung had a transparent belly, so he saw the tea leaf go through his bowel, clean all the toxins, and cure him.

For this legend, people deeply believe that drinking tea can help purge the bowel and detox(indeed it does but not in that legendary way.) Some people even thought that drinking tea on an empty stomach could get a more noticeable effect and better detox.

Actually, it only makes a worse result.

Due to tea containing alkaloids like caffeine, drinking tea on an empty stomach can not help clean the digestive system but overstimulate them. Absorbing too much caffeine on an empty stomach will lead to symptoms like palpitation, slipping, and acid reflux, etc.

Especially in the morning, your stomach secreting gastric juice ready for digesting breakfast. If you only drink tea without breakfast, the stomach is stimulated by the caffeine and secreting more juice; it will harm the digestive system. Under this habit long time, the digestive system becomes dysfunctional, various chronic diseases may come.

Related Reading: Never Having Green Tea On An Empty Stomach For Losing Weight.

Drinking Tea Before Bed

Most people know that drinking tea refresh brains, but having it before bed is not a good choice. Caffeine stimulates the nerve and easily leads to insomnia; it will be more serious to one who is sensitive to caffeine. The stimulation to the stomach also brings a burden. If you have a habit of drinking tea before bed, you’d better replace the true tea with the decaf ones or herbal teas which helps sleep. But the best way is to give up this habit.

Besides, the other reason not to recommend having tea before bed is too much water intake. It may make you have to hit the bathroom times in the night and impact sleep quality.

Related Reading: Worry About The Caffeine In Tea? 4 Tips For You!

Drug Interactions

We often see that the notices on the drug packages warning us not to drink tea during medication. That’s because some substances in tea easily interact with the medicine and make them lose efficacy, even becoming some compounds harmful to health. And caffeine also impacts the intestines and stomach from absorbing the drugs, which impedes the treatment.

I can’t list all about what type of tea interacts with what drug precisely here. Ask your doctor, or stop drinking tea during medication is always the proper choice.

There were some discussions about the counteraction of foods. Some people think that drinking tea when having some typical food(like meat, egg, and seafood) will cause untoward effects. These viewpoints had been proved a fuss, and you don’t need to worry about it.

People With Special Physical Constitution

Reasons similar to drug interactions, people with a special physical constitution or under a special status are also not recommended to drink tea.

Pregnancy Period

The diet of a woman during the pregnancy period influences infant development. A wrong diet may increase the risk of complications; the caffeine in tea is the factor with the most dispute. Studies suggest that a woman during pregnancy period shouldn’t intake over 200-300g of caffeine. Still, in consideration of the different physical constitution and various ambiguous factors, pregnant women should avoid having caffeine-contained true tea. Even herbal teas like raspberry leaf tea, which is considered good for pregnant women, should also be drunk after consulting doctors.

Anemia

There is a substance called tannin in tea; it makes the tea tastes bitter. Tannin is easy to combine with iron ions, which impacts the human body absorbs. And iron is an essential element that hematopoietic function needs. So the anemia patients or who just lost too much blood by a big accident are not suggested to have tea.

Weak Liver and Kidney

People got liver or kidney problems should avoid drinking too much tea or tea in a high concentration. Because tea is diuresis and aggravates the weak kidney burden. And liver assumes a certain hematopoietic function, so once the liver gets a problem, it often comes with anemia, especially during the post cirrhotic stage. Like the previous saying, tea influences iron absorption, and it will worsen the disease.

Reference

Caffeine induces gastric acid secretion via bitter taste signaling in gastric parietal cells;

Effects of caffeine on sleep quality and daytime functioning;

The Impact of Tannin Consumption on Iron Bioavailability and Status: A Narrative Review;

Association between coffee or caffeine consumption and fecundity and fertility: a systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis;