Ask the RD: Health Benefits of Decaffeinated Tea

Tea is the most popular drink in the world and provide several health benefits.  The benefits of tea vary based on the amount of polyphenols it contains. During the process of decaffeinating the tea, most of the polyphenols remain intact, giving decaffeinated tea most of the benefits that caffeinated tea has.

Green and black teas contain the most benefits and 2 to 3 cups of tea are recommended per day for adults. Drinking decaffeinated tea is a smart choice for those who need to avoid or limit caffeine.

 Polyphenols
Polyphenols are plant compounds with antioxidant properties thought to be more effective than vitamin C. The polyphenols in tea are known as catechins. There are two processes used to decaffeinate tea. One that uses ethyl acetate only retains 30 percent of the polyphenols. The other, more natural way uses only water and carbon dioxide and retains 95 perfect of the polyphenols. Decaf tea is a smart alternative to caffeinated tea.

Antioxidants
Antioxidants fight free radicals that can change cells, damage DNA and cause cell death. Free radicals can lead to cancer and heart disease and speed the aging process. Antioxidants in decaffeinated tea, especially green tea, can help neutralize free radicals and may reduce or prevent the damage they cause. Green and black teas provide the most antioxidants.

Reduced Cancer Risk
Clinical studies have shown that both black and green tea protect against cancer, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center. Polyphenols in tea may kill cancerous cells and prevent them from growing. Tea helps to prevent against certain cancers such as bladder, gastric, ovarian and pancreatic cancers, according to the Mayo Clinic.  Researchers found that women under the age of 50 who drank 3 or more cups of tea per day were 37 percent less likely to develop breast cancer than those who did not consume tea.

Lowers Cholesterol
Tea can lower total cholesterol and raise HDL, the good cholesterol. Polyphenols may block cholesterol from being absorbed in the intestine and help rid the body of it. In a study of male smokers, drinking green tea reduced blood levels of the harmful kind of cholesterol, LDL. Drinking tea can also assist in preventing atherosclerosis, a condition in which the artery walls thicken due to accumulation of fatty materials, through reduction of cholesterol and triglyceride levels. According to the University of Maryland Medical Center, the rate of heart attack decreases 11 percent by drinking 3 cups of tea per day. However, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration does not allow tea makers to claim that tea reduces these risks.

Information from Nutritionist review

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Why You Should Be Drinking Peppermint Herb Tea before Bed

 Peppermint herb tea is a naturally caffeine-free tea which is a tisane infusion of peppermint, meaning that it is actually made from anything but the leaves of the tea bush. Peppermint is a mix between spearmint and watermint and has quite a high menthol content; it also goes well if you mix it with other herbal teas or even non-herbal teas. It has a very strong aroma, as well as flavor of mint because of its high menthol content. Peppermint herb tea is also versatile, which is one of the reasons it is quite popular, since it can be drunk either hot or cold. Though peppermint herb tea can be enjoyed at any time during the day, you will get extra benefits if you drink it before bedtime.

Relaxation

You have a greater chance of falling asleep if you are actually relaxed when your head hits the pillow, so drinking peppermint herb tea before bed is a great way to prepare yourself for a restive night of good, sound sleep. If you are suffering from sleep deprivation, you may want to try peppermint her tea for that reason alone; it has been shown to battle sleep deprivation quite effectively, which ties in to its overall benefit of helping to relax you for sleep. Stress, too, can be an inhibitor of sleep since tension, and tightness in your muscles make it harder to fall asleep. Drinking herb tea just before bed can be an easy and proven way to release the tension in your muscles, thereby allowing for a quicker path to restful sleep.

Soothing of Your Stomach

Drinking peppermint herb tea before bed can also lead to benefits for your stomach. If you have ever experienced any of the following--stomach aches, stomach pains, stomach cramps or diarrhea--you should have tried to soothe your stomach with peppermint herb tea. Anything that upsets your stomach is a hindrance to getting a good night's sleep, yet just a cup of this tea should settle your stomach just fine so you can get on with the business of sleep.
Often called the "stomach healer," peppermint herb tea also helps in the promotion of good digestion while also cutting down on heartburn. If you are trying to fall asleep and you ate dinner only a couple of hours before, you may experience heartburn, which will distract you from falling asleep. Again, just a cup of peppermint herb tea can help a great deal.

Immune System Benefits

Those times in the year when you are sick and falling asleep is hardly an option, you may wish you had drunk peppermint tea before bed more often. The reason is that peppermint herb tea acts as a great preventative force against catching the common cold or, worse, the flu. This kind of tea comes with good amounts of potassium, calcium and vitamin B, all useful agents in the fight against colds and flus.
Information taken by FITDAY


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How to Drink Green Tea Without the Side Effects

Though green tea has a lot of health benefits, it can also cause side effects like jitteriness and upset stomach. Follow these simple steps to have the best possible experience with your green tea.

 
Drink green tea tea when it's freshly made but slightly cooled. Scalding tea can damage your digestive system. Moreover, recent studies suggest that too much hot tea can promote throat cancer.^[1] Conversely, compounds in tea like catechins, theanine, and vitamins C and B diminish over time through oxidation, so the health benefits are strongest with fresh tea. Old tea can also harbor bacteria, especially since its antibacterial properties diminish with time.^[2]

Brew the same tea leaves in moderation. With each successive infusion, cancerous substances in the leaves themselves (often pesticides) are drawn out.^[3]

Avoid tea that's excessively concentrated. Too-strong tea contains huge amounts of caffeine and polyphenols. The excess of caffeine can cause tremors and heart palpitations, and too many polyphenols can cause indigestion.^[4] 

Make sure that tea doesn't conflict with any medications or supplements that you're taking. The compounds in tea can interact with certain substances.^[5] Ask your doctor or pharmacist for confirmation.

Don't drink too many cups! The United Kingdom Tea Council recommends drinking not more than 6 cups of tea a day. For the best health benefits, 3 to 4 cups is recommended.
 

Drink tea an hour before or after meals. Certain compounds in tea inhibit the absorption of calcium^[6] and non-heme iron^[7]. Drinking too much tea can worsen the symptoms of those prone to iron deficiency. Putting milk in your tea can cancel out the problem of calcium absorption, the oxalate in the tea bonds to the calcium in the milk rather than the calcium in your food.^[8]

 Information taken from WikiHow

Minicoy Island and the Maldives!

Minicoy Island or Maliku is the only inhabited island of the Maliku Atoll. It is the second largest and the southern-most among the islands of the Lakshadweep archipelago, measuring about 10 km from its northern end to its southernmost point. Minicoy is a long island, almost completely covered with coconut trees.
The locals, the Malikun, call their island "Maliku," as do the Maldivians, while it is called "Minikkoy" in Malayalam. On the southern side of the main island lies the uninhabited islet of Viringili where formerly the lepers of Minicoy were banished.

This atoll is administered by India under the Indian Union Territory of Lakshadweep. The closest island to Minicoy is Thuraakunu in the Republic of Maldives. Since 1956, the Indian Government has forbidden contact between people of the two islands despite their geographic proximity and ethnographic similarities. Minicoy Islanders, like the close islands of the Maldives follow Sunni Islam. The islands were probably Buddhist before like they were in the Maldives.

Today Maliku is administered by India, but claimed by the Maldives. This claim was made in 1983, when the President of Maldives made a public speech claiming Maliku for the Maldives. Even today many Maldivians privately harbour such sentiments. At the same time India is overly cautious of any contact between people of Maliku and its Maldivian neighbours to the south.

An oral tradition of the Maldives (according to the late Magieduruge Ibrahim Didi, a Maldivian learned man) explains why Minicoy is not politically part of the Maldives anymore: Some time in the past (perhaps during the 17th century), Minicoy was devastated by a great cyclone which destroyed most houses and a great number of coconut trees. Following the catastrophe, a delegation of Minicoy islanders from the best families in the island sailed to the King in Male' asking for gold to help them through the hard times. However, the Maldive King told them that he had not enough money in his treasury and that he was not able to help them. Hence the delegation of Maliku nobles went onwards to the Malabar coast, where they found favor with the king of Cannanore (Kannur) who welcomed them and helped the Minicoy people to rebuild their island in exchange for their loyalty. Henceforth the Minicoy Islanders owed allegiance to this kingdom of the SW Indian shore.

Today, Maliku has a combined population of 9,500.
Under the Laccadive, Minicoy and Amindivi Islands (Laws) Regulations, 1967 of the Government of India, Maldivian nationals can only visit Maliku if they are permitted by the High Commissioner of India. The High Commissioner of India in Malé shall intimate the names of the persons whose visits are permitted and the period of their stay to the Administrator of Lakshadweep sufficiently in advance. The Administrator may, on valid grounds, extend the period of stay of Maldivain nationals.

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Balvenie Fifty limited edition whisky sold for $39,000 in Maldives duty free shop

Hyderabad, Oct 28: 

Duty-free outlet at Maldives’ Ibrahim Nasir International Airport managed by GMR Group, has sold a bottle of whisky for $39,000 (approximately Rs 21 lakh).

The Balvenie Fifty limited-edition whisky, which has just 88 bottles available all over the world, was purchased by a Chinese passenger at the airport, said Neeraj Sharma, Brand Development Manager (Indian Sub-Continent) of William Grant and Sons - makers of the fine Scotch whisky.

“We allocated two bottles of Balvenie Fifty for Indian Sub-Continent. Both bottles were kept at Male International Airport. A Chinese traveller purchased a bottle for $39,000 two weeks ago. He also purchased Balveni Forty for $5,200,” he told PTI.

Ibrahim Nasir International Airport is commonly known as Male International Airport.

According to a press release issued at the time of its launch, Balvenie Fifty was unveiled to celebrate master blender David Stewart’s 50th anniversary with the company.

“Nothing for India. Because in India bulk of the business comes from arrival shops (at airports). At the arrival shop there are restrictions on quantum of purchase. So we cannot put some of the expensive products at Indian duty free shops, he explained.

According to a person familiar with customs rules, a passenger can buy only up to $500 at duty-free outlets at airports in India.

On Glenfiddich Single Malt Whisky - the flagship brand of William Grant and Sons, he said, “We have almost 45 to 50 per cent share in single malt business. It has huge range within the brand. We are also launching Glenfiddich 125 shortly. It should be around during Diwali,” he said.

Duty-free retail will continue to be a prime driver for premium brands due to huge difference of pricing over domestic market, he added.

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/industry-and-economy/marketing/balvenie-fifty-limited-edition-whisky-sold-for-39000-in-maldives-duty-free-shop/article4040556.ece?ref=wl_industry-and-economy

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A Brief History of Time - Stephen Hawking

Though it remains the world’s bestselling science book, A Brief History of Time has become notorious as one of the most commonly purchased but unread books. Reading it, it’s hard to see why. Hawking's prose is as smooth and accessible as Bill Bryson’s, and the ground he covers is still groundbreakingly relevant and fascinating, 20 years on. It’s hard to believe that Hawking is not only able to elucidate some of the more complexing scientific puzzles in a way that is clear, engaging, and exciting, but that he discovered and presented these notions for the first time. Perhaps when Hawking first wrote this book, the average layman understood little of some of the more advanced hypotheses and breakthroughs of physics, but it’s partly testament to the power of this, and other similarly stunning books, that these scientific ideas have become part of how we perceive our world and ourselves. No other scientist since Einstein, who, along with Newton and Galileo, is given a chapter, has had such a massive impact on the “common person” as Stephen Hawking. This book’s penetration into the mind of the reading public, whether they’ve actually read through from start to finish or not, has been the key reason for that impact.
I’m almost ashamed to admit that this is the first time that I’ve read A Brief History of Time. Like Hamlet or The Odyssey it has become so iconic, that I feel as if I had already read it before I came to the actual text. I knew that it was important, and I knew, to an extent, that it would be accessible, but what I didn’t know was that it would be as funny and engaging as any book I’ve read. Hawking is charming and self-deprecating, and his prose is both clear and intimate. This latest edition is a neat, smallish size hardcover version of the 1996 version and contains a number of black and white diagrams, images, and figures. There are also chapters on wormholes and time travel, and discussion around a unified theory of physics, which didn’t appear in the original version. From the original book are chapters on such things as the nature of space and time, the expanding universe, Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle and its implications on how we view the world, quarks and other elementary particles, black holes (and how they also emit energy), the beginning and potential end of the universe, time and how it works (and doesn’t).
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