Tea Drunkenness and the Tea Complexion.

White Ribbon, Volume 12, Issue 135, 15 August 1906, Page 10

Tea Drunkenness and the Tea Complexion.

Dr. \Y. Scott Tebb, one of England's public analysts, after a careful analysis of tea, in his report to the Southwark Borough Council says, “ English people drink their tea too strong and too often, and he quotes many authorities to show how excess is followed by dyspepsia, heart ailments, and nervous disorders, reaching even to insanity and suicidal tendencies. “ Tea,” lie reports, “ contains from three to four per cent of an alkaloid known as tlieine, which is supposed to be identical with caffeine in coffee and theobromine in cocoa. This drug stimulates the brain and removes languor and fatigue. This accounts for its free use by a pe,;ple who are lacking in energy. Those who are in a normal state are never fatigued, and therefore never feel the need of a stimulant. Those who are troubled with fatigue or lack energy, and feel the need of some-

thing to whi|i them up, should, above all neople,

Avoid such Stimulants, since they impart no energy or strength to the fatigued. Of tannin, which is pi sent in quantities of from ten to twenty per cent, Dr. Tebb says : “In excess tannin tends to depress the action of the digestive fluids and ferments. It interferes with the normal activity of secretion by constricting the blood vessels and diminishing the circulation; and, lastly, it tends to combine with the nitrogenous principles of the food, rendering them insoluble and incapable of digestion. The tendency, therefore, of this substance is greatly to impair digestion, and it gives rise to palpitation ol the heart, headache, flatulence, loss of appetite, constipation, and other symptoms so well known at the out-patient department of our general hospitals. On inquiry it is often found that the patient is accustomed to drink large quantities of tea, which has stood for long periods, and consequently extracted excessive amounts of tannin. “A careful analysis was made of a large number of the China and Indian teas on the market, which showed the following general results: —

Individual analysis showed that higher price did not necessarily insure greater freedom from tannin, some of the cheapest being the most satisfactory in this respect. On an average,

each person in the Cnited Kingdom is day by day consuming half as much alkaloid and nearly as much tannin as would be permissible to take occasionally as a drug.” The injury sustained by people of civilized lands in using this poisonous herb is not appreciated. Tea exhilarates the same as alcohol and other poisons. All such exhilaration is merely

a Mild Form of Intoxication or drunkenness. This cannot be kept up for any length of time by anyone without inflicting serious injury to the brain and nervous system. The tannin 111 the tea has more to do in bringing about that muddy complexion and wrinkled skin found among women, than any other one thing. The rosy checks of girlhood usually disappear about the age of twenty. If young women desire to keep a good, clear, transparent complexion, and not developc a skin that has the appearance of tanned leather, they must give up the use of tannin, the substance which is used for tunning purposes in tanneries, and which is so liberally found in all teas. It is a fact that the dingy, muddy complexion is found chiefly in tea drunkards. Please observe that this is the ease. Australasian Gt d Health.

Per cent. Per cent Alkaloid. Tannin. Indian leas ... 2.84 7.43 Ceylon leas ... 2.1)8 7.80 China Teas ... 2.40 6.08