Tea: A new perspective on health benefits

Although among the five main types of teas (white, green, oolong, black and pu-erh), black tea is the most consumed worldwide, an impressive number of scientific publications have been focused on green tea and its major compounds, flavan-3-ols (catechins). However, besides flavan-3-ols, there are other compounds present in tea that could be accounted as potential bioactive compounds. Therefore, the objective of the present review is to provide a new perspective on the health benefits associated with tea consumption by critically analyzing the available literature on the potential tea bioactive compounds and the current level of scientific evidence for these health benefits. Until now the exact mechanisms of action or compounds responsible for the health benefits associated with tea consumption have only been poorly investigated. It is important to consider that tea compounds will be extensively metabolized to different metabolites that will, most likely, be the compounds circulating in blood and potentially reaching the different sites of action. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.