Soaking Up Benefits of Tea

Tea isn’t just for drinking anymore. It’s the hottest flavor for bath and body products, from Earl Grey-scented candles to green tea herbal soaps and celadon room spray.

Although studies have found that ingesting green tea can lower cholesterol and prevent some forms of cancer, there’s no evidence that topical application has any benefit, says Mark Blumenthal, executive director of the American Botanical Council and Herb Research Foundation. The Texas nonprofit is one of the nation’s largest research facilities for herbal remedies.

The popularity of tea products may be nothing more than marketing.

“Green tea is trendy right now,” he says. “If you hook people into a product associated with an ingredient that has a health benefit, they will buy the product. It’s benefit by association.”

But don’t toss those tea products yet. A chemically correct green tea powder extract is available in various formulations and may be put into a cream, Blumenthal says. “Whether you’ll get the same benefits as you would from drinking green tea depends on what else is in the cream, how often you put it on and other variables.”