Tea's Dark Side

Okay, it's not much of a dark side, I'll admit, and it's not so much the tea plant's fault as it is our own. Plants breath the air and suck nutrients out of the ground, so it's only natural that they can also such up foreign matter and toxins. For this reason you generally don't want to pick berries or harvest plants that are near roads or industrial centers. Tea, unfortunately, is no exception.

A lot of places online will tout tea's fluoride content as a positive. "Oh, it protects your teeth!" they'll say. And why? Maybe because they're stupid, maybe because they're tea fanboys/fangirls, or maybe because they're trying to sell a product. Well, it may be true that the fluoride content of tea leaves helps protect your teeth. But you are drinking that tea, not gargling and spitting it out, so any fluoride that touches your teeth is also going to run its course through your gut. Ingest too much fluoride and you run the risk of developing fluorosis, a nasty condition where bones and joints fuse together. If left untreated it will cripple you and put you in immense pain. Not to mention all the other nasty things fluoride can do to you. I won't get into the fluoridated water debate, but I will say this: many bagged teas have fluoride levels well above that of tap water. Instant tea is the worst, but I imagine if you drink that stuff you aren't reading this blog right now.

Check it out. Not so good, eh? But it's not all bad. First of all, fluoride and other toxins accumulate over time, so if you drink tea made of younger buds you will not be getting as much in your system. If your tea comes from a remote, unpolluted place, same deal. The higher quality the tea, in general, the less fluoride in it. White teas tend to have the least because they're harvested the earliest. Black teas tend to have the most because they're harvested the latest.

Most people don't experience any problems or develop fluorosis, anyway. But if you are worried (and I'm truly sorry if it's my fault), you can use non-fluoridated water when you brew your tea. I'm lucky because we don't put fluoride in our water (or much of anything—our water quality is really high), so tap water is fine for me. But if your tap water is fluoridated, use distilled water. And drink higher quality teas. Not only will it be better for you, but it'll taste better, too. I guarantee it.

It's also important to note that rooibos has considerable fluoride in it as well (as far as I know honeybush doesn't, however).