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Looking for a Healthy Beverage? Get Back to
the Basics
Newswise, January 14, 2011 — Sports drinks
and enhanced waters have become extremely
popular among athletes and consumers who
want to live a healthy lifestyle. Yet a
growing body of evidence points to
old-school beverages—tea, coffee and low-fat
or chocolate milk—as the best elixirs for
nutrition, health and workout recovery.
For hundreds of years, ancient cultures have
relied on tea for medicinal purposes, and
modern science is now verifying why. Tea is
an antioxidant-rich beverage containing more
polyphenols than many fruits and vegetables.
Besides being rich in compounds that combat
cell-damaging oxidative stress, tea has a
chemical makeup that includes enzymes,
carbohydrates, protein, and lipids.
Oxidative stress is a molecular imbalance
that interferes with the body’s ability to
detoxify harmful compounds leading to
cellular damage and is associated with
chronic health problems such as
atherosclerosis, diabetes, dementia, and
even cancer.
Packed with compounds that protect cells from
oxidative stress, tea has emerged as a
natural dietary aid to lower the risk of
these ailments.
Research indicates that tea strengthens the
body’s immune system, reduces buildup of
plaque on arterial walls, and aids in the
control and prevention of diabetes.
Like tea, coffee is packed with polyphenols,
and it actually has a higher content of
antioxidants than green or black tea and
other beverages such as fruit and vegetables
juices.
New research has suggested that coffee
consumption can lower cardiovascular risks
as well as lower the risk of developing type
2 diabetes by up to 50 percent.
Coffee also appears to have a positive effect
on neurological diseases with coffee
consumption possibly reducing the risk of
both Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s
disease.
It is widely known that milk is an excellent
source of protein, calcium, and vitamin D
and it helps build teeth and bone mass
during childhood and adolescence.
Recent research findings detail the benefits
of whole, low-fat, and chocolate milk when
it comes to overall nutrition, bone density,
weight loss, muscle-building and more.
Other research indicates that when consumed
after resistance training, both unflavored
and chocolate-flavored versions of
reduced-fat milk, improve muscle
development, enhance strength, and increase
fat loss.
