It might sound like the name of a heavy metal band, but anthocyanin in purple tea is rock ‘n’ roll in a completely different way.

Anthocyanin is a type of flavonoid, thought to provide health benefits in part through its antioxidant effects. This bioactive compound shows big promise in recent studies, offering strong anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial activities, as well as the potential to suppress human cancer cells, improve eyesight, and protect against liver injuries and dementia. Those are possibilities that definitely rock.

WHAT IS ANTHOCYANIN IN PURPLE TEA?

Found naturally in fruits and veggies like black currants and eggplant, anthocyanin creates the purple, blue, or red hues in foods and likely enhances their health-promoting qualities. This potent flavonoid is also found in abundance in purple tea.

Research into anthocyanin is fairly new so let’s look at another food with high amounts of this antioxidant. Purple sweet potatoes have earned the media spotlight recently for their possible role in longevity. They are a staple food on the Japanese island of Okinawa, an area where we find an extraordinarily healthy elderly population. Many residents are over 100 years old, and rates of reported dementia are up to 50 percent lower than in Western countries. Some researchers are pointing to the large amount purple sweet potatoes in their diet, and therefore big amounts of anthocyanin, as a key factor in longevity and health.

Purple foods only make up about 3 percent of the average American’s fruit and vegetable intake, a pretty low amount. One of the advantages of purple tea is its potential to increase that consumption in a delicious, convenient way.

BENEFITS OF ANTHOCYANIN IN PURPLE TEA

We all know about the purported health benefits of green tea. Purple tea offers all the same benefits as green tea and more because of high concentrations of anthocyanin.

So just how much of this compound is in purple tea? Let’s compare it to wild blueberries, a fruit particularly rich in anthocyanins with 558 milligrams per 100 grams. In scientific studies, wild blueberries have been shown to help fight cancer, cardiovascular disease, and cognitive issues and are considered a superfood.

Purple tea has 15 times more anthocyanin than wild blueberries — 1.5 percent compared to 0.1 percent. Imagine, then, the potential health benefits of including purple tea as one of your daily beverage choices.

All this adds up to a healthier life with purple tea as a tasty and refreshing part of it. Cheers!