BellaOnline Forums Health and Fitness Nutrition Get more antioxidants from your cup of green tea

I read an article in Prevention magazine that said you should add 2-3 tbs of a citrus juice to one cup of green tea to increase the antioxidants that help prevent cancer, stroke and heart disease. Adding a little lemon, orange or lime juice can increase these up to 5 times over drinking tea alone.

It's because the compounds in tea are unstable in nonacidic environments like your intestines so only about 20% of the antioxidants are really absorbed.

They suggest letting the tea cool slightly before adding these juices.
I love lemon in my tea so now I have one more reason to add it.

Great tip! This works for me as i really don't care for the taste of green tea but am impressed by its antioxidant powers. This will be a big help as i am trying to wean myself off coffee.

Thanks for the info. I agree, Eating Veggies, about the taste of green tea. The idea of mixing it with orange juice or lemon juice will make it taste better. I even mix green and black tea bags together when I make iced tea so I get some tea taste.

There are some nice flavored green teas that aren't quite so bad.

I find tho that the more green tea I drink, the more I get used to the taste so maybe someday I'll love it?

I brew my green tea loose, so when I drink a cup I drink the leaves, too. I'm pretty sure I get more antioxidants that way. :-)

You can also use your tea leaves in recipes tho I haven't done this.

I like to brew loose tea sometimes. It tastes stronger that way.

I think that you do get more antioxidants from loose tea than from tea bags. I've read that lower quality tea is used for the bagged tea.

Also, the cost of the tea is a factor in the antioxidants. If you buy inexpensive tea, it is probably going to be lower quality-just like most things, I guess.

White tea also has more antioxidants than green tea.