Rooibos Tea Health Benefits

Are you looking to improve your health? Rooibos tea health benefits are numerous and perhaps African rooibos (pronounced ROY-boss) or red bush tea is exactly the item that has been missing from your diet. Find out what the studies done on rooibos tea have revealed and judge for yourself!

Rooibos Tea is a leguminous shrub that is grown in the mountainous region of Cape Province in South Africa. It is also occasionally spelled rooibosch . Rooibos makes sweet and slightly nutty flavored tea and it can be served as is or with milk and/or sugar.

Studies on Rooibos Tea

The Department of Food Science of the University of Stellenbosch, South Africa, concluded that antioxidant activity in green tea was highest, followed by rooibos, then black tea and oolong tea.

As most people know, antioxidants are highly beneficial to humans in binding with free radicals before they can cause damage.

Rooibos tea is not made from the tea plant (Camellia sinensis) and as such does not contain any caffeine at all. It is also low in tannin and has a high ascorbic acid content.

Another study completed in 2003 and published in Physiological Research indicated that rooibos has hepatoprotective effects, so your liver can also benefit from this tasty beverage.

In 2006, Joachim W. Herzig studied the antispasmodic effects of rooibos tea and concluded that "Rooibos tea possesses a combination of dominant KATP channel activation and weak Ca++ antagonist mechanisms and hence justifies its use in hyperactive gastrointestinal disorders."

Reference: Anwarul Hassan Gilani, Arif-ullah Khan, Muhammad N. Ghayur, Syed Faizan Ali, Joachim W. Herzig (2006) Antispasmodic Effects of Rooibos Tea (Aspalathus linearis) is Mediated Predominantly through K+-Channel ActivationBasic & Clinical Pharmacology & Toxicology 99 (5), 365-373 doi:10.1111/j.1742-7843.2006.pto_507.x