Green Tea
Proven Health Benefits of Green Tea
- Green tea prevents abnormal blood clot formation or thrombosis.
- Green tea is potent against influenza virus.
- Green tea lowers blood LDL and subsequently many cardiovascular diseases.
- Green tea increases body metabolism and helps with weight loss.
- A cup of green tea may boost short-term memory and reduce the likelihood of Parkinson’s disease.
What is Green Tea?
The tea plant, Camellia sinensis, certainly takes pride that the beverage from its lowly leaves, is the second most consumed liquid by humans worldwide; only behind water. One may wonder, but its ease of preparation, full and activating flavor and host of health benefits that have been studied, scientifically, over decades must certainly contribute to its popularity. Green tea in particular is exceptional. Tea is classified in colors, according to the resulting color following a certain degree of processing. So, we have green, oolong and black tea, and as you would rightly guess, green tea is the least processed and the richest in beneficial phytochemicals. The most important of them are the flavonoids, epicatechin, epigallocatechin, epicatechin gallate and epigallocatechin gallate.
What is Green Tea useful for?
Tea starts its usefulness right in the mouth. One study indicates that green tea consumption reduces formation of dental carries, even when one still consumes sugars.1 The amount and high bioavailability of flavonoids in green tea is probably the main tickle for researchers. This gives green tea a high antioxidant activity, scavenging free radicals to prevent many cancers. A study also shows the ability of these flavonoids to protect the skin against harmful UV rays.1 Flavonoids of green tea have been shown to improve the immune system, specifically inhibiting HIV infection and deterioration of infected persons.2 Green tea, since ancient Asia, has been known to be effective against diarrhea and typhoid. In more recent times, studies have shown that they inhibit the reproduction of many human pathogens.
Health benefits
- Weight loss
- Prevents cardiovascular diseases
- Boosts immune system
- Improves brain activity and alertness
- Improves skin health and reduce cell ageing
- Prevents cancers
- Improves oral health
- Antiviral effects
Nutrition
2g of dry green tea, which is about the weight in a tea bag will contain the following:- Carbohydrates – 0.5g
- Lipids – 0.04g
- Proteins – 0.3g
- Minerals – 0.1g
- Polyphenols – 0.74
- Caffein – 0.07g
Toxicity
Green tea has its own over-consumption effects, although, according to many studies, it requires a day-long consumption (2 liters or more) for several continuous days to experience those.2 However, few people may react more readily to tea.
Caffeine overdose is one of the main toxicity effects of green tea. It should be noted, though, that tea, in general, has much less caffein than coffee, while green tea has the least of it compared to her black and oolong sisters. Therefore, it is highly unlikely to experience effects such as restlessness, anxiety and distorted sleep from green tea consumption. Other risk associated with over-consumption include aluminum toxicity and inhibiting the absorption of dietary iron.