Daily Tea Drinking Prevents Winter Itching
Winter is a peak season for skin itching, especially among the elderly. A simple and practical method exists: drinking tea in moderation daily helps prevent skin itching.
Tea contains abundant trace element manganese—the 14 essential trace elements in the human body. Manganese plays a significant protective role in skin health: first, it participates in numerous enzyme reactions, promoting protein metabolism, enhancing protein absorption and utilization, and facilitating excretion of harmful substances produced by protein breakdown, thus reducing skin irritation; second, it enhances activity of galactose transferase and polysaccharide polymerase, catalyzing metabolic processes of certain vitamins, ensuring normal sebum metabolism and preventing dry skin; third, it promotes accumulation of vitamin B6 in the liver, enhancing resistance to dermatitis. Therefore, manganese supplementation is key to preventing skin itching.
Tea is known as a “manganese-concentrating plant.” While wheat, spinach, and cabbage contain high manganese levels, human absorption is low. Animal sources like fish and liver/kidney have easily absorbed manganese but lower quantities. Thus, tea stands out as a superior source for manganese supplementation.