What is Green Tea Good For ?

Green Tea has almost boundless health benefits. Read on to see how it can improve many aspects of your health and well-being.

Green Tea is becoming more and more popular due to its many health benefits, and high levels of antioxidants and vitamins. It is made by being harvested before quickly being preserved without the usual oxidation process of other teas taking place. This is one of the many reasons why it is thought to have such great properties. Green teas are processed with either steam heat or with dry heat. However it is worth noting that green tea brewed from loose tea leaves offers the most potent source of antioxidants and you should really look for organic versions for optimum benefits.

Here are some of the health benefits of regularly drinking green tea:

BOOSTS BRAIN HEALTH: A recent report inPsychopharmacology (i) described a study which had shown green tea could be promising in the treatment of cognitive impairments associated with neuropsychiatric disorders, such as dementia. They said “Our findings provide first evidence for the putative beneficial effect of green tea on cognitive functioning, in particular, on working memory processing at the neural system level by suggesting changes in short-term plasticity of parieto-frontal brain connections. Modeling effective connectivity among frontal and parietal brain regions during working memory processing might help to assess the efficacy of green tea for the treatment of cognitive impairments in psychiatric disorders such as dementia.”
Interestingly they also confirmed that it is possible to still get the health benefits by consuming it in supplemental extract form – good news for non tea lovers.

TYPE 2 DIABETES: Research found that people who drank at least 6 cups per day of green tea had a 33% lower risk of going on to develop Type 2 Diabetes when compared to a group who drank less than one cup per week.

CANCER: The active components in green tea were shown reduce the production of proteins associated with inflammation, cell motility, cell signalization and angiogenesis. Studies also showed a clear link between drinking green tea and having a lower risk of cancer (including ovarian and breast) (iv) noting the potential role of green tea or green tea components in ovarian cancer prevention and treatment.

CHRONIC INFLAMMATION and REDUCED MORTALITY: Drinking green tea lowers chronic inflammation, lowers blood pressure and also oxidative stress. It has been linked to reduced mortality across a range of causes including heart disease (v).

BONE HEALTH: The powerful polyphenols combined with the vitamin D compounds boost both the strength and structure of our bones (vi). Chronic inflammation which leads to a higher risk of osteoporosis could also be reversed.

HEART HEALTH: Studies show an improved blood flow in green tea drinkers. Arteries are also more relaxed which shows that just by drinking a few cups of green tea daily may actually help prevent heart disease (vii).

EYE HEALTH: Compounds known as catechins found in green tea can be effective in preventing glaucoma as well as other eye conditions as they have been found to be absorbed into the eye tissues following digestion (viii)

WEIGHTLOSS: The catechins also help burn fat and could increase fat oxidation. A report published in Physiology & Behavior says “Positive effects on body-weight management have been shown using green tea mixtures. Green tea, by containing both tea catechins and caffeine, may act through inhibition of catechol O-methyl-transferase, and inhibition of phosphodiesterase. Here the mechanisms may also operate synergistically. A green tea-caffeine mixture improves weight maintenance, through thermogenesis, fat oxidation, and sparing fat free mass….Taken together, these functional ingredients have the potential to produce significant effects on metabolic targets such as thermogenesis, and fat oxidation.”

Green tea could therefore be one of the most healthy things you could drink apart from water.

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REFERENCES/SOURCE:
(i) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24643507
(ii) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16618952
(iii) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22564714
(iv) http://carcin.oxfordjournals.org/content/29/10/1967.short
(v) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3689013/
(vi) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21036589
(vii) http://cpr.sagepub.com/content/15/3/300.abstract
(viii) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=%22Journal+of+agricultural+and+food+chemistry%22%5BJour%5D+AND+Green+Tea+Catechins+and