Saturday 28 September 2013

Green Tea – How Healthy Is Green Tea?

Benefits of Green Tea

Green tea is one of the best health drinks around. The Chinese are using this drink for more than 4,000 years.  Drinking a cup of tea a few times a day is a good habit for the health. In green-tea drinking cultures, the usual amount is three cups per day. Although tea drinking has been associated with health benefits for centuries, only in recent years have its medicinal properties been investigated scientifically. 

 Watch the video below by Wenni Hu about Green Tea:





Green Tea Health Benefits

Tea's health benefits are largely due to its high content of flavonoids that are antioxidants. Green tea is the best food source of a group called catechins. Catechins are more powerful than vitamins C and E in halting oxidative damage to cells and appear to have other disease-fighting properties. Studies have found that consuming green tea will reduce the risk for several cancers, attacking skin, breast, lung, colon, esophageal, and bladder. The benefits of green tea drinking include:
  • Regulating your blood sugar, fighting plaque, lowering your cholesterol and slowing down the aging process.
  • Green tea is able to fight tooth decay because it inhibits the major bacteria called Streptococcus mutans from forming in between the teeth.
  • At the same time, drinking this regularly also helps prevent gum disease.
  • This powerful anti-oxidant kills cancer cells without harming any healthy tissue.
  • It also lowers your cholesterol by inhibiting the abnormal formation of blood clots which causes heart attack or stroke.
  • Additional benefits for regular consumers of green and black teas include a reduced risk for heart disease. The antioxidants in green tea can helps to block the oxidation of LDL (bad) cholesterol, increase HDL (good) cholesterol and improve artery function.
  • A Chinese study showed that 46%-65% reduction in hypertension risk in regular consumers of green tea, compared to non-consumers of tea.

Green tea is rich in catechin polyphenols, particularly epigallocatechin gallate which is also known as EGCG.  The best way to get the catechins and other flavonoids in tea is to drink it freshly brewed. Decaffeinated, bottled ready-to-drink tea preparations, and instant teas have less of these compounds. Tea can impede the absorption of iron from fruits and vegetables. Adding lemon or milk or drinking tea between meals will counteract this problem.

People who are allergic to caffeine should not drink green tea. If you are pregnant, drink this in moderation. Green tea is just like coffee and contains caffeine, but the caffeine content in green tea is fifty percent less than coffee.


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