🦷 Nonetheless consuming tea from the pure meals retailer?

Within the Nineties and early 2000s, my household drank iced tea daily. We made it in giant glass pitchers and stored it within the fridge.

We at all times used the identical model, which we purchased from our native pure meals retailer. 

It tasted good by itself, so we by no means added sugar. I had no motive to imagine it wasn’t wholesome and secure.

Years later, I began studying extra about how tea is grown and processed. I discovered a number of stories exhibiting that tea may be contaminated with heavy metals, pesticides, and even mildew.

Lots of the teas most affected come from international locations that also use chemical substances banned within the U.S.

This involved me, so I regarded into the particular tea my household had used for years.

I checked the place it was grown.

I contacted the producer immediately and requested in the event that they examined for pesticides, heavy metals, or mycotoxins. Lengthy story brief, the reply I received wasn’t passable. 

Tea is among the most chemically contaminated crops on this planet.

Some tea-producing international locations nonetheless use pesticides like DDT, which was banned within the U.S. in 1972 due to its hyperlinks to most cancers, hormone disruption, and neurological injury.

Tea leaves are dried—not washed—earlier than packaging. Which means any pesticide residue left on the leaves results in your cup.

Even natural teas may be contaminated if they’re processed alongside typical teas or not examined recurrently.

There are not any authorized necessities for tea firms to check for these substances or to reveal their sourcing.

If an organization doesn’t take a look at, they will’t know whether or not their tea is clear. That was the case with the tea I used to drink. As soon as I spotted that, I finished shopping for it, regardless that it was a staple in our family—a lot in order that household and buddies actually dubbed it “Burhenne Tea.”

In case you assume that is an argument towards tea, it’s not.

Tea—when sourced and examined correctly—is among the greatest every day habits you’ll be able to undertake on your oral well being and microbiome (hyperlink to the one I drink).

At present, I drink inexperienced tea that has been examined for toxins and grown in areas with strict agricultural requirements. I solely purchase from manufacturers that present third-party testing for pesticides, heavy metals, and mildew.

In contrast to most drinks, inexperienced tea helps oral well being reasonably than harming it.

Listed here are three causes I like inexperienced tea for selling higher oral well being:

Inexperienced tea helps cut back dangerous oral micro organism

It incorporates catechins, which goal and suppress microbes like Streptococcus mutans and P. gingivalis.
These micro organism contribute to cavities and gum illness.
→ Examine: Catechins inhibit oral pathogens

Inexperienced tea helps gum well being

Research present it reduces gum irritation and slows the development of periodontal illness, even when used with typical remedy.
→ Examine: Inexperienced tea improves periodontal outcomes

Inexperienced tea improves breath with out harming the microbiome

It neutralizes risky sulfur compounds, which trigger unhealthy breath, however doesn’t kill helpful micro organism like antiseptic mouthwashes do.
→ Examine: Inexperienced tea reduces halitosis

Inexperienced tea additionally incorporates no sugar or acid. Which means you’ll be able to drink it all through the day with out feeding dangerous micro organism or eroding your enamel. Evaluate that to soda, kombucha, or fruit juice!

Now, I solely drink inexperienced tea that’s well-sourced, and examined (hyperlink to the one I drink).

Inexperienced tea is one in every of my favourite issues that I get to suggest as a dentist—as a result of it doesn’t really feel like a burden. It’s satisfying. It has caffeine! You possibly can drink it scorching or iced. It helps your oral well being with out demanding self-discipline or including one other chore to your day. In contrast to flossing—which, sure, I do know a lot of you might have come to like (and I like that)—inexperienced tea is straightforward to embrace.

In case you’ve been right here some time, you understand how I really feel about mouthwash—it wipes out your oral microbiome and is even proven to trigger hypertension. I don’t suggest any mouthwash, even the “pure” ones as a result of they include important oils that are disruptive to the oral microbiome.

However for those who just like the ritual of mouthwash, I do have a DIY inexperienced tea mouthwash recipe on my web site. Inexperienced tea is the primary ingredient—as a result of that’s how highly effective it’s on your oral well being.

– Dr. Mark Burhenne

P.S. Have you ever skilled one thing related? Have you ever ever trusted one thing for years and later discovered it wasn’t what you thought? Ship me a reply. I’d like to listen to about it.