7 Health Benefits of Iced Tea

National Iced Tea Day on June 10th each year celebrates one of summer’s favorite drinks. Whether you prefer sweetened or unsweetened, with or without lemon, many love and enjoy ice tea by the glass full all summer long.

Creating your custom iced tea is as easy as adding a hint of flavor. Whether you add a squeeze of lemon or the juice of raspberries, lime, passion fruit, strawberry, or cherry, make your iced tea your way.

An alternative to carbonated soft drinks and quite popular in the United States, iced tea makes up about 85% of all tea consumes. Restaurants, convenience stores, vending machines, grocery stores, and self-serve soda fountains make finding iced tea easy and convenient.

From soothing stress to providing weird minerals you didn’t know you need, iced tea provides more than just a refreshing boost. While heavily sweetened iced tea can’t really be considered a health food, iced tea, in general, is fairly healthy. There has been much research done, and compelling conclusions that tea can reduce the risk of heart disease, and possibly help prevent a number of other health issues.

Whether black, green, white, or oolong, all teas do a body good. Here are a few of the ways in which they do so.

1.Keeps You Hydrated

Dehydration sucks, so to speak. Hydration is good. The Harvard School of Public Health lists teas as a great source of hydration. Despite the common myth that caffeine dehydrates the body, there is ample evidence that such is not the case

2. Boosts Your Antioxidants

Everything is all about the antioxidants these days, we can’t seem to escape the heaping of accolades on these plant compounds that fight cell-damaging free radicals in the body. But if they really prove to be as beneficial as science seems to think they are, then we should be focusing on getting them as frequently as possible. Tea is a great source of antioxidants with about eight to 10 times the polyphenol antioxidants found in fruits and vegetables.

3. Better Alternative to Sugary Soda

A 12-ounce can of regular cola contains 39 grams of total sugar, which is about 9 1/2 teaspoons of sugar and 140 calories. Twelve ounces of unsweetened iced tea as 0 teaspoons of sugar and 2 calories.

4. May Help Your Teeth

Some research has shown that drinking tea may help prevent tooth loss; tea changes the pH in your mouth, which may prevent cavities. At the very least, it appears not to harm tooth enamel like some beverages do.

5. Could Fight Cancer

The Tea Association of the USA explains that more than 3,000 published research studies exist that evaluate the role tea and tea compounds, such as epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), may play in cancers or various sites. The effects apply to a number of different cancers and are linked to varying degrees of significant success.

6. Chills the Nerves

A British study found that people who drank tea were able to de-stress more quickly than those who didn’t. As well, during the study the tea drinkers had lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol in their body after a stressful event as compared with a control group who drank a placebo.

7. It Helps Your Heart

A comprehensive review study found nearly 20 percent reduction in the risk of heart attack and a 35 percent reduced risk of stroke among those who drank one to three cups of green tea daily.

Brew and enjoy a glass of iced tea with friends. With so many ways to brew iced tea, it’s become more convenient than ever, too. Create your favorite flavors by adding mint, lemon or fruit. Enjoy a drink during lunch at your favorite restaurant. While enjoying your iced tea, be sure to share on social media using #NationalIcedTeaDay.