Rooibos Tea

Rooibos tea, commonly known as red bush, may be one of the most valuable health promoting teas out there. Although rooibos is not a true tea, drinking it may have many beneficial effects even more enhanced than drinking green teas from the camellia plants.

This beverage from South Africa is rich in polyphenols. Flavonoids, phenolic acids, and mangiferin are some of the important classes of polyphenols found in red bush tea. Research on animals indicate that rooibos tea contains powerful antioxidants. The actions of this nutrient-dense tea appear to have chemo preventive, as well as, immune-modulating actions.

Known as the “Tea of Africa”, or red bush, by the natives of that area, this tea, as we know it, comes from the plant aspalathus linearis. Rooibos is the actual African word for red bush. Rooibos is a small scrubby plant, rather delicate, that grows in the high mountain ranges of South Africa. The thin needle-like leaves are green. The seeds from the plant are few. Harvest of the seeds is made further difficult because the seeds tend to pop out of the fruits when they ripen. Many of the natives dig out anthills, gathering the seeds, to preserve the crop of the area. Native African people farm the rooibos very close to nature. The plant grows best in the natural soil it springs out of. Cultivation remains today very much the way the plant has been grown over centuries.

Rooibos tea develops a distinctive red color from the fermentation process the leaves and twigs of the plant are put through. The plants materials are oxidized, which in turn creates the red color. A sweet, nutty flavor develops, very pleasant to the taste. Rooibos can also be a green tea. A different process, which does nor include fermentation or oxidation, produces a milder green rooibos. Both teas are widely available around the world.

Because of its delicious taste and the health qualities related to red bush, this tea has become popular all over the world. Especially in countries known for tea drinking. Japan and England are two countries who enjoy this tea and are big consumers. It is less bitter and slightly sweet so people are less likely to add sugar to it. Rooibos can be a great thirst-quencher as well.

So how did this ancient African tea get to the global market? A Russian immigrant by the name of Benjamin Ginsberg was the first to market rooibos tea. It was the early 1900’s when Ginsberg discovered the delicious beverage. He was a settler in Africa at this time and discovered the pleasure of drinking the tea when the natives shared local customs. Mr. Ginsberg felt the world needed to know about this very healthy and pleasant tea.

Many animal studies have been done with the rooibos plant. A cancer preventive, immuno-modulating, and anti-mutagenic activity has been observed. It seems the many flavonoids and polyphenols in this plant are responsible for these actions. A comparison was done with the green teas we have commonly used. Anti-mutagenic properties were observed from the presence of the polyphenols in rooibos. Red bush was shown to have moderate anti-mutagenic properties compared to the epigallocathechin gallate (EGCG) of the green tea.

The chemo protective properties in another study of the green tea and rooibos were conducted with rats injected with a cancer initiator. Although both teas showed positive protecting activity, rooibos actually reduced the amount of diseased tissue in the liver of the rat. AIDS, cancer, infections, allergies, and other immune system diseases may respond to extracts of rooibos according to many of the other studies with animals.

Diabetic induced rats have been studied as well. The immense antioxidants found in the rooibos plant have prompted investigative studies concerning the treatment of oxidative stress in rats with induced diabetes. Amazingly, rooibos tea dramatically lowered the genetic damage to the diabetic-induced cells in the rats. Lower levels of oxidative stress markers in the plasma of these rats was observed also. In another study the active flavonoid aspalathin may have beneficial effects to stabilize blood sugar in type 2 diabetes. Aspalathin was observed stimulating the uptake of glucose in insulin secretion and muscle tissues. Could it be in the future rooibos tea may be commonly recommended for additional support for the therapy and prevention of diabetic vascular complications?

How about the aging brain? Most of us want to protect ourselves from the many diseases that may accompany the aging brain. In the brains of rats experiments have revealed that rooibos tea can prevent age-related accumulated oxidative damage. It seems the antioxidants found in the rooibos may be responsible for this. The conclusion from this study indicated the antioxidant activity in rooibos tea may prevent DNA damage and inflammation in the brains of rats. Routine consumption of red bush tea may be useful and safe in reducing oxidative stress, especially since it is caffeine free.

In another study with animals, the liver enzymes were kept under control in the group of animals exposed to liver-damaging substances, while consuming rooibos tea. The animals who took the rooibos tea had improved antioxidant response and the liver tissue regeneration decreased liver function enzymes.

In human studies, Dr. Jeanine L. Marnewick studied forty patients with risk factors for heart disease. Dr. Marnewick is senior researcher at the Oxidative Stress Research Centre at Cape Peninsula University of Technology in Cape Town, South Africa. She led an investigation of the possible benefits of rooibos in human beings. Since heart disease is often connected with degrees of oxidative stress it was clear that rooibos could have an effect on heart disease. The trial results showed a very positive effect on the forty patients. The levels of bad LDL cholesterol was down, and the levels of oxidative stress markers were down. The body’s most important cellular defense antioxidants glutathione had increased, as well. Dr. Marnewick had made her point.

Based on the results of animal and human studies, it seems it may be a “win-win” for your health to drink rooibos tea. It is pure nutrition in a glass, sweet and refreshing, hot or cold.

Sounds like tea time to me.

Until next time I am wishing for you the best of health.

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Eva is a graduate of the American Institute of Holistic Theology and practices as a Doctor of Naturology. You may reach her at littleherbshoppe@hotmail.com

This information is not meant to diagnose, treat or prescribe in any way.