Hemochromatosis Support Group
Hemochromatosis is a hereditary disease characterized by improper processing by the body of dietary iron which causes iron to accumulate in a number of body tissues, eventually causing organ dysfunction. It is the main iron overload disorder. Hemochromatosis is notorious for having symptoms that are often initially misattributed to other diseases.
Do caffeine free teas have tannins? If so which types? Thanks.
I read that decaffeinated tea has most or all of the caffeine of regular tea - the caffeine is removed but not the tannin.
Most herbal teas don't contain much or any tannin.
Those that contain tannin are spicy teas with cloves and cinnamon and some fruit teas such as those containing dried berries.
Green tea, lightly fermented oolong tea and pu-erh tea are good sources of tannin - like black tea they are made from the plant Camellia sinensis. White tea (which I like very much, although I buy leaves, not tea bags) is also made from this plant but it has less tannin. For green tea and oolong tea I buy only the leaves, not tea bags.
I seldom drink alcohol with meals since I was diagnosed with HH and I have experimented more with different teas - I find it fun to try them.
Christine
The first line in my post above should have read: "decaffeinated tea has most or all of the tannin of regular tea".
Tannin (which is in coffee, tea and chocolate) impairs the absorption of non-heme iron so it makes sense to drink high-tannin beverages with meals particularly meals with red meat (which contains heme iron).
I prefer the taste of loose tea to tea bags especially for green tea, white tea and oolong tea. I tend to like these teas to be on the weak side compared to the tea bags - I find there is a greater fragrance which is pleasing. I use those little mesh balls on a long pincer-type holder to make the tea so it is easy to deal with the leaves afterwards. Also, with leaf tea you can keep adding hot water until the leaves no longer produce decent tea. I find the mesh holders convenient to use at work as the leaves are bigger and I don't put many leaves in the holder.
For black tea, which I drink with milk, I prefer the taste of loose tea to tea bags but I drink more cups per day and it is a nuisance cleaning the leaves out of a pot regularly. I tend to drink leaf tea more on the weekends and on holiday. At work, I never would have time to deal with tea leaves so I use tea bags.
Christine
.
I've been using herbs for my lyme symptoms, my last cbc all levels except ferritin were normal! The first time in 5 yrs!! Even ferritin levels are lower. But when I have phlebs done they can only take 250 ml my body doesn't do well when more is taken no matter how hydrated I am.
Wish you well!