Tea Benefits: Factual Insights for Consumers

Tea has a marketing problem. When Googling “tea,” the first query that comes up under the “People also ask” section is “What is the best tea to drink for your body?” Narrow the search further and enter “tea benefits” and a whole host of conditions tea is purported to help show up along the top of the results page—cancer, diabetes, heart health, weight loss, and more.

It can be confusing to navigate all these health claims as a tea consumer, and it’s even more confusing — and possibly perilous — to decide what you can use in marketing as a tea seller. After all, are any of these health claims about tea actually true?

World Tea News spoke to industry experts and tea sellers as well as conducted a survey to find out more about the link between tea, health, and wellness claims.

Are the health claims about tea valid?

Perhaps the biggest question of all is whether the health claims made about tea are even true.

First, let’s break down some of the compounds in Camillia sinensis that are the reason for many of the health claims out there today:

Polyphenols: Micronutrients that naturally occur in plants. Many work as antioxidants.

L-theanine: An amino acid that may affect certain chemicals in the brain.

Caffeine: A stimulant.

Alkaloids: Chemical compounds that have diverse and important physiological effects.

While these compounds exist in tea and have their own benefits, it all comes down to the wording of the claims and marketing pitches that sellers use.

“We specifically trained our staff at my stores to say we’re not allowed to talk about health benefits. What we can talk about are factual things. That Camillia sinensis has polyphenols, antioxidants, all these different chemical compounds that have been shown to be beneficial,” says Don Ho, an attorney and founder of BDH Consultants. “You can make those claims because those are factual things that have been researched. But you cannot say it cures cancer, cures your inflammation, etc.”

Dr. Milosavljevic agrees, “Without question, there are health benefits—the antioxidants, the polyphenols, those exist. But to what degree using that product every day is it going to give you a specific health outcome that you’re looking for, in a curative sense, that’s the kind of stuff we can’t do.”

Dodd says because of the individual nature of each person—each person’s specific health history, diet, environment, and other factors that may come into play—it makes it incredibly difficult to make any health or curative claims. “Making these claims means you have to know that it’s actually because of the tea, and not because of some of these other factors, and that is difficult to do,” she says.

Dodd says that generalized statements relating to phrases like “healthy routine” are a safer bet. “I don’t think it’s particularly helpful to talk about tea as medicine. Nobody likes to take medicine, and tea is an enjoyable drink,” says Dodd. “You can say things like, ‘tea is part of a healthy lifestyle,’ which it is. And I think that a healthy lifestyle includes the fact that tea helps you slow down for a moment in your day.”

Ho points out that the way tea is prepared can also affect how much of a certain compound a tea drinker may get, “The way you brew or steep your tea also makes a difference,” he says. “Because there are so many different ways to prepare tea, it’s hard—I would argue almost impossible—to make blanket statements.”

“Unless you’re testing each cup, it is impossible to provide, with reasonable precision, the exact amount of every compound contained inside,” says Dr. Milosavljevic. “I understand that we would like absolutes. But, when you’re dealing with a compound that has extensive human intervention, the way we handle and treat any plant is going to affect the end product.”

World Tea News’ survey found that 91% of respondents agree and believe that the health benefits of tea vary depending on factors like quality, origin, and processing methods.

What are a tea seller’s responsibilities to its customers?

Many of our experts brought up the term caveat emptor or “buyer beware,” which basically refers to the onus being on the buyer to do their due diligence before a purchase. The same could be said of tea consumers facing a market of health claims. However, our experts think tea sellers need to go further.

“I feel like we also want some credibility in our industry, we want consumers to see we can be trusted,” says Dodd.

Dr. Milosavljevic agrees. “You are all considered experts in the industry. This is your field, whether you’re importers, buyers, sellers, lenders, whatever it is, the onus is on you to do your homework. That is how you build trust,” she says.

Part of that “homework” is in ensuring claims made about teas are not misleading. According to our survey, 86% of respondents want to see clearer labeling or guidelines regarding health claims on tea products.

As for tea sellers themselves, they too see the importance of making factual claims. In our survey, over 82% of tea sellers said they believe it is “very important” for sellers to ensure that health claims about their products are supported by scientific evidence.

Tea seller Jade Peak Reserve feels the same way. “Similar to other food products, it’s essential to be cautious about the health benefits we assert. While we can discuss the ingredients and their structural properties, we must refrain from implying that our product will definitively cure a disease without FDA approval,” she says.

In the end, perhaps the best marketing for tea isn’t focused on health and wellness but is something that goes back to the basics. “In the industry, there’s been this momentum to try to make it seem like the real benefit to drinking tea is purely medicinal. And that, to me, is problematic,” says Dodd. “I think the better message is that here’s this amazing beverage that has this amazing history, and it connects you throughout the world with different cultures and different peoples in different times. And in addition to all that, it can be part of your healthy lifestyle.”