Well, prepare for some surprises then. Actually, it was the Indians who drink almond leaves tea first, which lends the name “Indian Tea Leaves” to the leaves. Surprisingly, indian almond (Terminalia catappa) isn’t actually related to almond (Prunus dulcis), it was named that way because the seeds of indian almond tree actually taste similar to regular almonds. The indian tea leaves, also known as other names depends on the region where they’re found, for instance, Ketapang, Ebelebo or Zanmande, grow from large tropical trees which are native to tropical Asia and northern Australia.
Interestingly enough, the almond leaves tea is also used by local folks in some Southeast Asian countries for breeding certain species of fishes. It is said that fish breeders usually put almond leaves into the fish tank to manipulate the water properties in some way that the water mimics the natural habitats of the fishes. By adding almond leaves, the spawning of eggs can be triggered naturally because the chemistry of the water adapted to those suitable for breeding.
It doesn’t stop at that. Much like regular tea leaves, it was discovered also that the leaves contain flavonoids like kaempferol and quercetin, and also tannins.
Finally, tannins are some kind polyphenols which has anticarcinogenic, antioxidative as well as antimicrobial properties. They basically can help killing cancer cells, fighting free radicals, and also inhibiting the growth of some parasites like fungi, yeasts, bacteria and viruses. Not only that, tannins also have some other effects on our body, ranging from accelerating blood clotting, reducing blood pressure, decreasing body fat, and modulate immune responses.
Seeing how oddly similar almond leaf tea to ordinary tea, also how different they are in so many ways, it made us wonder what are the health benefits of almond leaves tea can offer in contrasts to other herbal tea? Of course, being tea, they have all the benefits of antioxidants as well as soothing effects to the nerves. However, seeing how little we currently know about almond leaves tea, it’s best that we list the most dominant and common uses of it first, so we can have some basic understanding about what almond leaves tea can do. So, here is the health benefits of almond leaves tea.
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1. Cure Digestive Problems
As discussed on earlier paragraphs, almond leaves tea are generally used as cure for digestive problems such as dysentery and colic in babies. The amount of substances contained in them, such as fiber, helps in cleansing the stomach as well as stimulating natural bowel movement. The presence of antioxidants in the form of polyphenols and flavonoids helped in fighting infections in the stomach.
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2. Kill Intestinal Parasites
Even in our modern days, intestinal parasites can still be menaces to us. Especially for us who don’t have the luxury of preparing our own meal because of our busy schedules. Eating out seems to be the only option available, and every once in a while, there are always one or two food stalls which don’t put hygiene at their utmost concerns. The consequences could be nasty, ranging from bacteria, worms or even virus. Luckily, to keep their digestive healthy and their nutrient intact, people nowadays can also drink almond leaves tea.
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3. Treat Liver-related Diseases
People in Taiwan have been using almond leaves tea to treat liver for a long time now. There is actually a legit explanation as to how can a cup of tea be used as a cure for diseases. Studies on polyphenols such as tannins have been conducted for quite a while, and the results suggest that polyphenols in almond leaves tea can in fact bind and absorb harmful substances which later on would be processed by liver. Thus, drinking almond leaves tea can help easing the burden the liver must bear and consequently giving it time to recover and keeping it healthy.
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4. Treat Rheumatism
Almond leaves tea also has diuretic properties, amongst other things. Which means to drink almond leaves tea helps in maintaining kidney health as well as regulating fluid level in our body. Incidentally, rheumatism is also caused by the presence of water in the joints of bones. Diuretics play the vital role of helping the discharge of excess fluid especially in the wrong places, made it suitable treatment for joint inflammation such as rheumatism.
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5. Helps in Breeding Fish
It has been common practice in Asian countries to mix almond leaves with water in the fish tank, especially for fish such as Betta or also known as Siamese fighting fish. The chemical compounds contained in the leaves, such as tannins, when immersed in water can condition the water chemistry in some ways that it promote egg spawning for the fish. It is also said that adding almond leaves will also keep the fish healthy and thus add the lifespan of the fish.
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6. Might Prevent Cancer
It would be incomplete not to list one of the most important benefits of antioxidants-laden beverages such as almond leaves tea. Yes, antioxidants by nature are antagonists to free radicals, one of the main cause of many types of cancers. Which is why drinking almond leaves tea can protect us from free radicals and also all of its nasty consequences.
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7. Might Slow Down Aging
One of the most amazing benefits of antioxidants is the way it keep our cells and tissues from degenerating, or at least protect us from accelerating the degenerations of cells. Nowadays, we can’t seem to escape the unhealthy lifestyle the busy world has imposed upon us. We sleep late, we walk on the streets full of pollutions, we eat more calories than we should on the daily, and we mostly don’t drink enough water.
Free radicals are everywhere, ready to jump at us at moment’s notice, speed up the degeneration of our cells, thus make us more older and frail than our actual age. However, we can rest assured that antioxidants are also there in various forms, one of them being almond leaves tea. Therefore, it is best for us to drink almond leaves tea regularly to compensate the sins we’ve been commiting to our bodies, so that we can work on what matters the most.
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8. Help Maintaining Kidney Health
The diuretic properties in almond leaves can promote more discharge of bodily fluid in the form of urine, which in turn reducing the harmful substances and toxins that our kidney has to process. This is important because people tend to neglect kidney health until problems start to show up, be it kidney stones or kidney failures which is a hefty price to pay for neglecting such a simple habit of regular hydration. Drinking almond leaves tea can prevent all the pain and costly regular treatment we need to attend in the case of kidney failures and also keep our body hydrated for the daily tasks we need to do later on.
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9. Treat Stomach
It was a common practice for people in India to use almond leaves for treating various stomach problems. The usage has gotten widespread since then, with people in Southeast Asia began to use them as cure for dysentery, and in Philippines to treat various forms of intestinal parasites.
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Meanwhile, here are more health benefits of almond tea for health.
10. Liver Problems – Even in the old days, people in Taiwan used to gather fallen almond leaves to be used as cure ingredients for liver problems.
11. Treat Colic in Baby – While in some regions of South and Central America, people made tonic from the young leaves to treat colic in babies.
12. Digestive System – Later on, the other health benefits totally unrelated to liver and digestive systems began to came into light.
13. Treat Rheumatism – Turned out, Indian as well as Pakistani and Samoan also used the leaves in tea to treat rheumatism.
14. Quercetin is a well-known flavonoids which mostly used as medicine, it has softening effect to the blood vessels, thus made it suitable as a cure for heart disease, high cholesterol problems and many other circulation problems.
15. It is also well known ingredients for sport performance-enhancing supplements. While kaempferol serves as an antioxidants enhancer whose role is to strengthen antioxidants in fighting free radicals.
16. Researches even suggested that kaempferol plays vital role in protection against cancer.
Alright, so that’s many benefits of drinking almond leaves tea. With so many health benefits of almond tea that came with it, it’s almost too bad that the leaves aren’t as widely known as other herbal leaves. With the widespread of informations thanks to technology, we can read more and more about traditional and natural remedies to improve and maintain our health quite easily. We can always turn to health sites or other publications as well as scientific journals look for answers to sate our curiosity.
Hopefully, as technology advances, so is the speed of information deliveries, which in consequences can bring some of formerly unknown herbal remedies to spotlight. Thank you for reading, keep on being healthy and well-informed.
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