The Health Benefits of Green Tea
Author: Lorraine Bevere

Green tea has been used as a medicine in China for at least 4,000 years. It's benefits to human health have been widely known and talked about ever since it was first discovered. Legend says that green tea was discovered in 2737BC when the emperor Shen Nung was boiling some water for drinking and some leaves from a tree nearby blew into it. The wonderful smell induced the emporer to try this new drink and he found the taste heavenly and very refreshing. Green tea was later brought from China to Japan by Buddhist monks.

There are three main types of tea - green, black and oolong. All three come from the dried leaves and leaf buds of the shrub Camellia sinensis. Green tea differs from black tea in that the leaves are not allowed to ferment. Instead they are steamed, then rolled and dried. This process is used to inactivate the enzymes in the leaves so that oxidation process does not occur. The result is that the`leaves remain green and retain their nutritional qualities. In fact the properties of the green tea are very similar to that of the fresh leaf.

Fruit and vegetables are well known to be good sources of antioxidants, however what is less well known is the amount of antioxidants that are present in green tea. Studies have shown that drinking three cups of tea a day will produce a similar amount of antioxidants as that which is to be found in eating six apples! Green tea antioxidants are called polyphenols and they include tannins (a nutrient antioxidant), catchins (EGCG which is a powerful antioxidant), and flavenoids. These polyphenols in tea actually possess 20 to 30 times the antioxidant potency of vitamins C and E. Antioxidants fight against free radicals which harm the cells and tissues that make up our bodies. So as well as eating more fruit and vegetables, our antioxidant intake can be topped up by drinking more green tea!

Green tea offers many health benefits and recent medical studies suggest green tea to be beneficial in the following areas:

-Immune system boost.
-Reduces cholesterol levels.
-Reduces high blood pressure.
-Lowers blood sugar level.
-Digestive system - due to antibacterial properties.
-Respiratory health - as above.
-Oral hygiene - fights cavities and tooth decay.
-Acne
-Arthritis - anti-inflammatory effect.

Weight loss is another area that is attracting huge attention. Recently published research in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggests that an extract from green tea may speed up fat oxidation. A study was conducted of ten healthy men over a period of 6 weeks. It was discovered that those men who were given green tea extract burned more calories per day than those who were not given the extract. Much more research needs to be conducted in this area but the signs are certainly very encouraging. Aanyone for tea!






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Lorraine Bevere is the webmaster for FOG Tea which is a premier source of information about tea. For more information, please visit: http://fogtea.com

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