Red Tea Usage

Rooibos tea is marketed as a treatment for a wide variety of conditions, including all those mentioned above. However, no proposed uses of this herb have anymeaningful supporting scientific evidence.

Like other forms of tea, red tea contains antioxidant substances in the phenol family. ^{1 2 3} This alone is the basis for many of the health claims attached to it. However, innumerable substances contain antioxidants; furthermore, the theory that antioxidants provide widespread health benefits has, in recent years, largely collapsed.

Nonetheless, test tube studies , at least, hint that red tea might be helpful for preventing heart disease , ⁴ preventing liver injury , ⁵ and reducing cancer risk. ⁶ Other test tube studies hint that constituents of red tea might have activity against the HIV virus . ⁷ However, all of this evidence remains far too weak to be relied upon at all. In general, only double-blind, placebo-controlled studies can prove that a treatment is effective. Test tube studies are at the opposite end of the spectrum; they are useful as basic research, but the overwhelming majority of potential benefits seen in the test tube do not pan out in human trials. Therefore, at present, while rooibos may be a pleasant beverage tea, any medicinal claims attached to it are without scientific foundation.