Put Down That Bottled Tea

A presentation at the American Chemical Society's national meeting indicates that bottled teas contain less of the chemicals that give tea its health benefits when compared to home-brewed teas. Considering that the mass-market for bottled tea brings in an annual $7 billion in sales, it's hardly a surprise that mass produced teas are less healthy—the amount of added sugar and unneeded calories ensures that. But Professor Chi-Tang Ho and Dr. Shiming Li found that the concentration of polyphenols—antioxidants commonly found in teas—was virtually non-existent.

To put this into perspective, an average cup of home-brewed green or black tea contains anywhere from 50 to 150 milligrams of polyphenols. The bottled teas examined, on the other hand, contained as little as three milligrams of polyphenols per bottle.

At those small amounts, a person would have to drink 20 bottles to get the same polyphenol benefit in a single cup of tea, writes Bill Hendrick of WebMD.

Polyphenols can give tea a bitter and astringent taste. To make it more palatable, manufacturers often add more sugar, and/or less tea to each bottle, reducing the health benefit of the tea itself. The added sugar and other chemical additives add many unwanted calories to those who want to lose weight, Li said.