GREEN TEA

The Chinese have known about the medicinal benefits of green tea since ancient times, using it to treat everything from headaches to depression. Green tea is often touted as a wonder drink providing all sorts of health benefits. Studies have shown that this tea can prevent cancer, lower blood pressure, boost the immune system and reduce hypertension, rheumatoid arthritis, high cholesterol levels, the risk for cardiovascular disease. Today, scientific research in both Asia and the west is providing hard evidence for the health benefits long associated with drinking green tea.

The secret of green tea lies in the fact it is rich in polyphenols. Most of the green tea polyphenols are flavonols, commonly known as catechins. One in particular is epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG). EGCG is a powerful anti-oxidant: besides inhibiting the growth of cancer cells, it kills cancer cells without harming healthy tissue. It has also been effective in lowering LDL cholesterol levels, and inhibiting the abnormal formation of blood clots. The latter takes on added importance when you consider that thrombosis (the formation of abnormal blood clots) is the leading cause of heart attacks and stroke.

Green Tea aids in weight loss by slowing the action of a particular digestive enzyme called amylase, which is pivotal in the breakdown of starches that can cause the blood sugar levels in the body to soar following directly after a meal. Green tea has also been shown to increase the metabolic rate. This means that it helps your body to burn off calories faster, and thus help you to lose weight. Green tea can even help prevent tooth decay! Just as its bacteria-destroying abilities can help prevent food poisoning, it can also kill the bacteria that cause dental plaque. Green tea does contain caffeine. However, green tea contains less caffeine than coffee: there are approximately thirty to sixty mg. of caffeine in six - eight ounces of tea, compared to over one-hundred mg. in eight ounces of coffee.

RESEARCH & STUDIES:

» In 1994 the Journal of the National Cancer Institute published the results of an epidemiological study indicating that drinking green tea reduced the risk of esophageal cancer in Chinese men and women by nearly sixty percent. University of Purdue researchers recently concluded that a compound in green tea inhibits the growth of cancer cells. There is also research indicating that drinking green tea lowers total cholesterol levels, as well as improving the ratio of good (HDL) cholesterol to bad (LDL) cholesterol.
» In a 1997 study, researchers from the University of Kansas determined that EGCG is twice as powerful as resveratrol a polyphenol found in red wine that limits the negative effects of smoking and a fatty diet.
» How much to drink? A study by Cleveland's Western Reserve University concluded that drinking four or more cups of green tea per day could help prevent rheumatoid arthritis, or reduce symptoms in individuals already suffering from the disease. And Japanese scientists at the Saitama Cancer Research Institute discovered that there were fewer recurrences of breast cancer, and the disease spread less quickly, in women with a history of drinking five cups or more of green tea daily.