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The Healthiest Herbal Tea

More than a dozen herbal teas were compared for their antioxidant activity.

March 8, 2011 |
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Supplementary Info

The Healthiest Herbal Tea, 5.0 out of 5 based on 4 ratings

Sources Cited

K. M. Yoo, I. K. Hwang, and B. Moon. Comparative flavonoids contents of selected herbs and associations of their radical scavenging activity with antiproliferative actions in v79-4 cells. J. Food Sci., 74(6):419, 2009.

Acknowledgements

Transcript

Walking through the herbal tea aisle, can be daunting. Thankfully, last year this study, was published comparing the antioxidant activity of more than a dozen different types of herbal tea. They’re all good for you so the healthiest one is probably the one you’ll drink the most of, but if you don’t have a favorite, which is healthiest? Bergamot tea, chamomile, dandelion, fennel, jasmine, hawthorn, lavender, lemongrass, lemon verbena, peppermint, rooibos—also known as red tea, rosemary tea, thyme tea, or rosehip tea? For years I’ve been looking for good herbal tea data—and here it was, all in one place, thanks to a group of intrepid Korean investigators.
For the first elimination round let’s pick the top ten. There are 14 listed here. The first three to drop out of the running? Bergamot, fennel, and thyme. Then, even peppermint doesn’t make the top ten cut. Here are the top five, Chamomile, dandelion, lemongrass, rooibos, and rosehip. And the number one most antioxidant packed herbal tea? Dandelion. Who woulda guessed?

To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring watch the above video. This is just an approximation of the audio contributed by veganmontreal.

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Dr. Michael Greger

Doctor's Note

Please feel free to post any ask-the-doctor type questions here in the comments section and I’d be happy to try to answer them. And check out the other videos on tea. Also, there are 1,449 other subjects covered in the rest of my videos--please feel free to explore them as well!

For an update, check out my blog post Hibiscus tea: flower power.

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/mgreger/ Michael Greger M.D.

    Please feel free to post any ask-the-doctor type questions here in the comments section and I’d be happy to try to answer them. And check out the other videos on tea. Also, there are 1,449 other subjects covered in the rest of my videos–please feel free to explore them as well!

    For an update, check out my blog post Hibiscus tea: flower power.

    • Suzy

      Hi Dr. Greger,

      I have been suffering from Chronic Gastritis and would like to know which tea would be good for me? I also would like to see a video on the subject( Gastritis) I am vegan and Gluten Free. I have Crohn’s and Celiac. I grew up drinking black tea and seem to have trouble stopping it. I like the taste of Roibos, White tea, Hibiscus but I do not like the taste of green tea. I heard that slipery Elm, or Marshmelow tea are good for the heart burn, what do you know about that? I do not like the taste of both those teas but if it would help my disease I would drink it.

      • http://www.DonForresterMD.com/ Don Forrester MD

        It is possible that your GI tract doesn’t tolerate black tea and would explore other options as you mentioned. You might find some useful suggestions in Dr. John McDougall’s articles in his monthly newsletter… see Feb 2002 for gastritis… My stomach is on fire and I can’t put it out and Nov 2002 for inflammatory bowel disease… Chained to the Bathroom and Sept 2005 on Wheat and Celiac Disease. As he mentions there are some plant products that cause inflammation in the GI tract. Good luck.

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/rayzay8/ rayzay8

    I was happy to see chamomile in the top 5, because I drink a cup every day. I wonder where exactly it placed?

  • http://nutritionfacts.org/members/susanco/ susanco

    Hi Dr. Greger,
    My first question is do you recommend dandelion root or the leaves? As a result of this video I ran out and bought dried dandelion leaves. I put a teaspoon in boiling water, strained it, and drank it. In a little while, my mouth went totally dry which scared me. It seems that dandelion has a strong diuretic effect. Second question: can this really be healthful?

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=640861216 Gary Yuen

    Perhaps that’s why dandelion is tradtionally recommended for the liver.

  • JR

    Dr. Gregor,
    Thanks for all your great videos. I love to drink different types of herbal tea every day, but many of my favorite teas, even the organic ones, list “natural flavors” as an ingredient. I’ve read the government definition of what can be included in these flavors, but it isn’t clear to me whether or not they are safe. It’s not too hard to choose unflavored teas, but is it worth the effort to choose teas (which often don’t taste quite as good) to avoid these flavor compounds or are they completely harmless? Thanks!

  • http://poxacuatl.wordpress.com/ Strix

    I put fresh dandelion greens in my green smoothies! They have a good amount of calcium too. :^)

  • Tpots001

    Thank you for you work on all this information. – You cut to the chase and give with grafts a visual for what is top… Thanks again.

    Jean

  • albert

    was rosehip tea much inferior? my mum makes it in a thermos all the time – it tastes fantastic when brewed for enough time (a couple of hours or even more). I think now I’ll buy a thermos myself (and research what else can be brewed to max my ORAC :))

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