Your IndividualiTEA is the Key to $500 and a Year's Supply of Tea

NEW YORK, Dec. 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Whether you sip at sunset or sunrise, tea is a large part of our daily lives. To some, it is an act of self-care, to others it is a go-to remedy for better health. To celebrate every sip, the Tea Council of the USA is kicking off their sixth annual #IndividualiTEA Photo Sharing Sweepstakes. Tell us how tea fits into your daily routine for a chance to win $500, a year's supply of tea and an at-home tea ritual starter kit.

As we adjust to the world reopening, it is more important than ever to stay grounded for both our mental and physical health. When you center yourself around a cup of polyphenol-packed true tea – black, green, white, oolong or dark – your mind and body benefit. With the center of overall health being the gut, start your journey to better wellbeing with a hot cup of tea to benefit the body's most influential source.

Recent research shows that the gut is connected to more areas of health than we realize. When the bacteria in your gut is balanced, you experience whole body benefits such as better sleep, a stronger immune system and even healthier weight.

Greater gut health can be achieved through incorporating healthy foods into our diets, but emerging evidence shows that what we drink can also make an impact. A 2020 research study has shown that tea possesses a prebiotic-like effect and can assist in balancing your body's bank of bacteria.¹

Go with your Gut- Tea Helps Improve Health from the Inside Out

• Improving Your Sleep Cycle May Only be a Sip Away - Recent studies have demonstrated the ability of tea polyphenols to improve your brain's sleep cycle by balancing your gut.²
• Strengthen Your ImmuniTEA with Every Sip - People who consume polyphenol-rich beverages such as tea, often have healthy gut bacteria, leading to stronger overall immune systems. They are also less likely to have non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular disease, obesity, and neurodegenerative diseases.³
• Your Gut Guides Weight Loss - Findings from a 2019 study indicate that tea and the plant-powered polyphenols it contains could have prebiotic activity, creating a healthy ratio of the types of bacteria in the gut which, in turn, could contribute to weight loss and maintenance.⁴

"Even as the world continues to change, tea remains constant as the go-to beverage for better health," says Peter Goggi, President of the Tea Council of the USA. "Each year, the benefits of tea continue to grow, giving us more reasons to incorporate a calming cup into our daily lives. Whatever your reason, we want to celebrate all the unique ways tea is enjoyed during National Hot Tea Month and beyond."

#IndividualiTEA Photo-Sharing Sweepstakes Details
We want to hear how you make teatime a part of your life! Tell us by sharing a photo, video or description on Instagram, Twitter or TikTok with the hashtag #IndividualiTEA and tag @TeaCouncil (IG and Twitter) or @TeaCouncilUSA (TikTok). You can also enter directly via the IndividualiTEA microsite.

The #IndividualiTEA Photo Sharing Sweepstakes runs through January 31, 2022, so enter as many times as you'd like and don't forget to tag and tell your friends!

To read the official rules click here.

About the Tea Council of the USA:
The Tea Council of the USA is a non-profit association that was formed in 1950 as a joint partnership between tea packers, importers and allied industries within the United States, and the major tea producing countries. It functions as the promotional arm of the tea industry with a primary goal of increasing overall awareness of tea by providing information about its many positive attributes. One of the Council's primary objectives is the dissemination of key scientific findings about tea to the public. The Tea Council does this in several ways including: funding scientific meetings to bring tea researchers from around the world together to share key information and identify next steps for future research projects; and working with health organizations and international scientists to disseminate information about potential positive health effects of tea consumption on a public level.

¹ Liu, Y. C., Li, X. Y., & Shen, L. (2020). Modulation effect of tea consumption on gut microbiota. Applied microbiology and biotechnology, 104(3), 981–987. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-019-10306-2
² Yan, R., Ho, C. T., & Zhang, X. (2020). Interaction between Tea Polyphenols and Intestinal Microbiota in Host Metabolic Diseases from the Perspective of the Gut-Brain Axis. Molecular nutrition & food research, 64(14), e2000187. https://doi.org/10.1002/mnfr.202000187
³ Fraga, C. G., Croft, K. D., Kennedy, D. O., & Tomás-Barberán, F. A. (2019). The effects of polyphenols and other bioactives on human health. Food & function, 10(2), 514–528. https://doi.org/10.1039/c8fo01997e
⁴ Bond, T., & Derbyshire, E. (2019). Tea Compounds and the Gut Microbiome: Findings from Trials and Mechanistic Studies. Nutrients, 11(10), 2364. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu11102364

Media contact: Christina Deecken, [email protected]

SOURCE The Tea Council of the USA