By brewing your own iced tea you can keep calories and sugar in check, and reap bigger antioxidant rewards. After water, tea is the most popular beverage in the world, and more than half of Americans drink it daily, according to the Tea Association of the USA . Unlike […]
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After water, tea is the most popular beverage in the world, and more than half of Americans drink it daily, according to the Tea Association of the USA. Unlike the rest of the world, however, we prefer our tea cold.
You’ll get the same benefits from unsweetened iced tea as you do from hot — namely, a virtually calorie-free drink that’s rich in compounds that protect the body against cell damage that can cause infection or disease, according to Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The key is not to offset those benefits by adding tons of calories to your drink with sweeteners or other mixers.
That’s one of the main problems with bottled iced teas: One 12-ounce (oz) bottle of Arizona tea, for example, contains 144 calories, most of it from more than 8 teaspoons (tsp) of sugar, according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Premade tea drinks from chains like Starbucks aren’t much better: A 12-ounce Iced Matcha Tea Latte packs 140 calories, 4 grams (g) total fat, 2.5 g saturated fat, 21 g carbohydrates, and 20 g sugar. This is equivalent to about 5 tsp of sugar and will cost you almost $6 per drink!
Home-brewed tea, on the other hand, is one of the least expensive beverages you can consume, according to an article published in Current Pharmaceutical Design. And in addition to saving you money and calories, home-brewed iced tea is also likely to have more of those healthy compounds, known as polyphenols, compared with bottled versions, according to the American Chemical Society.
The antioxidant content of tea also varies depending on what’s added to it. Milk or milk alternatives are often used to make iced tea lattes, and perhaps not surprisingly, the milk you choose can affect the concentration of these micronutrients. Proteins found in cow’s milk, for instance, have been shown to bind with flavonoids, thus lowering total antioxidant values in tea, according to some past research. A different randomized controlled trial published in the European Journal of Nutrition found that soy milk also reduced polyphenol content when it was added to green tea. Oat milk, however, appears to have the opposite effect. According to research published in the journal Foods in April 2023, oat milk improved the bioaccessibility of polyphenols found in green tea, which means it helps the body absorb polyphenols better.
As far as sweeteners go, honey has its own antioxidants, which may be why past research found that stirring some into brewed tea resulted in a significant increase in antioxidant and phenolic content. Just keep in mind that honey is mostly sugar and thus adds calories, so you might want to go easy. Lemon or other citrus juices are another way to add flavor to your glass with minimal calories, and the vitamin C they contain was found to keep polyphenols in green tea mostly intact, which means your body can absorb more of them.
All the antioxidants in tea have been linked to a number of health benefits. Between 2 and 3 cups daily were associated with a reduced risk of heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes in a review published in June 2019 in Molecular Nutrition & Food Research.
In addition, if you use black or green tea as a base, they contain L-theanine, an amino acid that may promote relaxation, reduce stress, and improve sleep, according to the Cleveland Clinic. When paired with caffeine, it can also help people stay focused and more alert.
Both green and black tea make a neutral base for plenty of creative iced tea drinks. You can also use herbal teas, which don’t come from the same plant but from a variety of roots, leaves, and flowers, according to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, and are often caffeine-free.
Brewing tea is as simple as boiling water. But you can always mix things up with these fun, refreshing, and healthy recipes.
