What Are the Health Benefits of Tea With Ginger, Cinnamon & Anise?

If you've ever made ginger, star anise and cinnamon tea, you're familiar with the heady aroma it has. Spicy and flavorful, ginger, star anise and cinnamon tea also has a number of health benefits to offer. Take a look.

Read more: 10 Everyday Ailments Soothed by Tea

Mankind has been using these ingredients, i.e., star anise, ginger, cinnamon and tea, for their nutritional and medicinal properties for centuries. Very low in calories, provided you hold back on the sugar, this drink is a healthy addition to your daily routine. The ritual of making and drinking a cup of herbal tea can be quite soothing in itself.

While drinking tea, whether it's black tea or green tea, isn't a magic button that can fix everything in your life or improve your health overnight, it can certainly be one of the components of a healthy lifestyle, along with a nutritious diet, regular exercise and other healthy habits.

Here's what you need to know about the nutritional quotient and health benefits of each of the ingredients in star anise, ginger and cinnamon and tea, starting with the tea itself.

Harvard Medical School explains that tea contains flavonoid plant compounds known as catechins that reduce inflammation and are good for heart health. Both black tea and green tea have these flavonoids, so you can use whichever you prefer as the base for your star anise, ginger and cinnamon and tea, although green tea has a slightly higher flavonoid content.

Read more: The Best Green Tea to Lose Weight

Ginger has been used in Asian medicine to treat nausea, vomiting and diarrhea for centuries, according to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. Its ability to quell nausea also makes it a good home remedy for morning sickness and the nausea caused by chemotherapy.

An April 2013 study published in the International Journal of Preventive Medicine notes that ginger's powerful anti-inflammatory properties can not only act as a painkiller after intense physical activity but also inhibit cancer growth. The authors of the study say that ginger has also been shown to have beneficial effects on conditions like heart disease and diabetes.

Read more: Ginger Water Benefits

Star anise is an equally potent spice. An October 2017 study published in the Journal of Evidence-Based Complementary & Alternative Medicine explains that star anise is a spice native to South China that is used predominantly in Chinese and Vietnamese cuisines. The study notes that star anise is believed to have antioxidant, anticarcinogenic, antibacterial, antifungal, analgesic and sedative properties.

The authors of the study say that tea made with star anise is commonly used in traditional Chinese medicine to help cure rheumatism and in Indian medicine to help prevent throat infections.

As for cinnamon, Harvard Medical School notes that cinnamon also has antioxidant and antibacterial effects. Cinnamon is also known for its antidiabetic properties. Michigan State University explains that cinnamon can help slow down the rate at which your blood sugar levels rise when you eat carbs and it also improves your responsiveness to the hormone insulin.