Hibiscus has been used for a long time by many different cultures for various reasons. According to Wikipedia, “Hibiscus, especially white hibiscus, is considered to have medicinal properties in the Indian traditional system of medicine, Ayurveda. Roots make various concoctions believed to cure various ailments” and has been used by the Mexicans for people “with kidney problems [; they] often take it without adding sugar for its beneficial properties and as a natural diuretic.” Natives from Okinawa are known to associate hibiscus tea with longevity and the hibiscus flower is used in nearly all traditional dances in Hawaii.

Beyond simply having a pleasant flavor, teas with added hibiscus can offer a vast array of health benefits. When hibiscus is grouped together with other ingredients blended into the tea itself, it creates a concoction that is beneficial on various different levels, all of them delicious and good for you. For example, green tea has been known to have an incredible array of health benefits as well as black tea. The blending of two or more of these ingredients only serves to make that cup in your hand that much more important.

Bigelow offers many different teas with hibiscus added. Can you guess which ones they are?

Cinnamon Apple Herbal Tea — which is a great choice for the holidays — All Natural Organic Moroccan Mint, and Organic Green Tea with Pomegranate are just a few.

For more answers to this frequently asked question: Which Bigelow herbal teas include hibiscus? go here.

Emerging research suggests that consumption of green tea may combat the growing threat of antibiotic-resistant superbugs. That’s the word from Edinburgh, Scotland where the Society for General Microbiology recently held an international conference. There Egyptian researchers discussed trials which “have shown that drinking green tea helps the action of important antibiotics in their fight against resistant superbugs, making them up to three times more effective,” according to PHYSORG.com.

Green tea was tested in combination with antibiotics against over two dozen disease-causing micro-organisms. “In every single case green tea enhanced the bacteria-killing activity of the antibiotics,” said Dr. Mervat Kassem, a faculty member at Alexandria University in Egypt, where the research was conducted. In one instance, “the killing effect of chloramphenicol [a widely used antibiotic in low-income countries] was 99.99% better when taken with green tea than when taken on its own in some circumstances,” Dr. Kassem continued.  In some cases, even a small dose of green tea was effective.
“Our results show that we should consider more seriously the natural products we consume in our everyday life,” asserted Dr. Kassem.

For more information on the health benefits of green tea, readers are invited to visit the U.S. National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine website at http://nccam.nih.gov/health/greentea/index.htm.