Drinking Tea After Or With Meals Is Good Or Bad

Drinking Tea

Most of the people have the habit of drinking tea in the morning. This cup of tea makes you feel fresh. But having it with meals may not be a good idea. However, there are several studies that report drinking tea is good for digestive health. Although, there are also studies that state that caffeine in tea blocks absorption of various nutrients.

But do you think that this will affect our health in any way? Let’s see if it does.

First of all, get to know what is the role of tea in digestive health. There are a number of studies that have proved that drinking tea during or after meals helps in digestion. It relieves the stomach gas and flatulence. Tea, in general, here isn’t about all the types of teas. Green tea and herbal teas such as ginger tea will have beneficial effects on digestion. These teas contain a high amount of antioxidants and polyphenols. These antioxidants are powerful and reduce certain digestive complications. Some of the polyphenolic compounds are catechins and pepsins. Catechins increase the activity of the digestive enzyme. These are the compounds present in tea and play a vital role in various physiological profiles. Whereas pepsin helps in the breakdown of dietary proteins in the stomach.

Tea helps the digestive system to do its job more efficiently. Because it stimulates the production of saliva, bile and gastric juice for better digestion. Some studies have shown that phenolic compounds present in tea interfere with the absorption of iron by forming iron complexes in the intestinal lining of the stomach.

The habit of drinking tea with meals lowers its effect on iron absorption. For those who wish to drink tea with meals, rather it is recommended to consume foods rich in iron and vitamin C. Drinking tea with meals is not good mainly for patients with iron-deficiency. Because as tannins present in tea hinder the process of iron absorption in the body. It is also found that a tea during meals decreases the availability of catechins to the body.

Hence, it’s good if you can stop drinking tea with or after your meals. If you cannot control yourself from staying out of it, better go for green tea or ginger tea as they play a part in digestion. And people suffering from iron-deficiency should restrict intake of tea during meals.