Green Tea : Health Benefits And Weight Loss! - By: John Foley

Green tea is antioxidant packed and has been used as a medicine in eastern countries for millennia not only as a refreshing beverage, but as a medicine. Antioxidants are substances that scavenge free radicals -- damaging compounds in the body that alter cells, tamper with DNA (genetic material), and even cause cell death.

Modern medicine has conducted studies on green tea to investigate the claims that people have made for thousands of years concerning the beneficial effects of the leaf. In the study, they tracked more than 40,000 adults in northeastern Japan, where green tea is popular, from 1994 until last year. Participants had no history of stroke, coronary heart disease, or cancer at the beginning of the study.

Green tea is alkaline, while black tea is on the low end of acidic. If anything, the tea would become more acidic overnight, since the catechins become oxidized and transformed into the theaflavins and thearubigens that are characteristic of black tea. Green tea is the best food source of catechins. In test tubes, catechins are more powerful than vitamins C and E in halting oxidative damage to cells and appear to have other disease-fighting properties.

Green tea is made from unfermented leaves, and is made by picking from the tea plant the first tender leaves of spring which are then steamed, rolled, and then dried with hot air. This process retains the beneficial antioxidant properties, and reportedly contains the highest concentration of powerful antioxidants called polyphenols.

The polyphenol presence (beneficial antioxidant component) in tea may play a role in lowering cancer risk and the incidence of heart disease. Traditionally consumed as a beverage, green tea retains many chemicals of the fresh leaf. Both heart disease and prostate cancer are mammoth diseases. Heart disease kills more men and women in the United States than any other illness, and, after skin cancer, prostate cancer is the most common cancer in American men. In the random trial, ultrasound showed a greater dilation (3.9 percent) of the heart arteries in just 30 minutes for those given green tea over those given diluted caffeine or hot water. Researchers believe that green tea helps the cells in the lining of the blood vessels secrete the substance that is needed to relax the vessels and allow better blood flow.

Green tea is loaded with the compound epigallocatechin gallate (EGCg), a powerful anti-oxidant . Since the fermentation process used to make black tea converts EGCg into other compounds, researchers assumed black tea had less health benefits than green tea. Unlike black teas, which are made with fermented leaves, green tea is produced by steaming fresh leaves. This production process results in higher content of polyphenols like EGCG, which is a flavonol.

Green tea may be consumed in the form of a brewed beverage or capsular extract. In traditional Chinese culture, the ubiquitous statement regarding the health benefits of green tea is that it "improves digestion". And in the holistic understanding of Chinese medicine, this statement could include most of the factors listed above. Green tea is now consumed around the world, and because of its anti-oxidant value it is currently being studied for numerous health benefits, and as a treatment for a number of illnesses.

Green tea is also high in fluoride. A cup of green tea provides approximately 0.1 mg of fluoride, which is higher than in fluorinated water.

In Asia, the birthplace of tea, green tea is widely enjoyed not only for medicinal effects, but for the many dimensions of flavor that can be experienced through the different varieties. In China, there are nearly as many varieties of green tea as there are towns.

Once again, here are the possible health benefits of green tea: reduces blood pressure, decreases the risk for heart attacks, stroke, and cancer, reduces total cholesterol and LDL (bad cholesterol), enhances digestion and immune system, and reduces cavities and gingivitis. And because of the increased metabolism using green tea extract, it has shown to be very successful in losing weight, without increasing your heart rate. A common side effect of other weight loss supplements.

Article Written By J. Foley

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