Advertisements, white papers, advice, and sales people in that mall talk about the benefits of green tea. Still there are questions. How much should I drink? Can I really lose weight? Is there aspertaine or sucralose in green tea?
For thousands of years green tea has been used as a stimulant, a help for the heart, and as a diuretic. Green tea is the only tea type that is not fermented upon harvest. Black and oolong teas are fermented on harvesting. Green tea leaves are pan-fired or steamed to prevent the fermentation process and to shrink the leaves. There are varieties of green team that include Gunpowder, Sencha, Hyson, Dragonwell and Matcha.
Green teas comprise high properties of polyphenols or powerful antioxidants that help fight certain diseases. You may find, however that green tea has a very bitter flavor that is characteristic of polyphenols. You can add lemon to cut the bitterness. There are vitamins and minerals in green tea. Vitamin C, b-vitamins plus vitamin E and fluoride for strong bones and teeth are all found in green teas.
Basic Health Benefits
Studies have been published for years indicating that green tea is very important in reducing the risk of heart diseases. In 2006 a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association reported that those who drank green tea for over a decade experienced decreased chances of strokes. Further studies have shown that green tea does help in the prevention of lung, breast, stomach, colon, prostate, and skin cancers. Green tea is also known to help promote cognitive functioning in older adults.
Weight loss is advertised as a huge value in green tea. Alkaloids or substances similar to caffeine promotes a stimulate effect and speeds up metabolism. Do not listen to advertisements, however that tout the weight loss effects of green tea. It does help, but only to a small amount. You might experience a weight loss of about one to five pounds in a month period – depending on the form of green tea you drink.
On a very interesting note: the FDA does not regulate green tea supplements for weight loss. Do read the package ingredients to make sure the ingredients do not interact with medications you are taking. If you have heart conditions watch out for excessive caffeine. Green tea supplements have also been known to react adversely to mediations prescribed for physiological disorders as well as kidney disease. Consult with your doctors before using green tea as a weight loss supplement.
Drink green tea in its healthiest form and you will find that it is a great part of your healthy diet. Do stay away from those advertisements promoting green tea supplements and weight loss gimmicks. They are dangerous and expensive.
Antioxidants
Antioxidants in green tea are called catechins. These catechins look for free radicals that damage DNA and cause cancers, atherosclerosis and blood clots.
There is very minimal processing in green teas. The leaves are withered and steams, not fermented, and catechins become more concentrated (particularly eqpigallocatechi-3-gallate or EGCG). How much green tea should you drink to gain the health benefits? EGCG is great, but is not always used properly by your body. Still, laboratory studies have proven that green tea shrinks prostate cancer tumors in mice.
Cancer
Though there have not been many human studies on the benefits of green tea on cancers, there are a few studies using human subjects that prove drinking as little as two cups of green tea on a daily basis does hinder cancer development.
One analysis conducted in Japan involved 5000 Japanese women in the beginning stages of breast cancer. It was found that the increased green tea consumption before and after surgery did actually lower the recurrence of cancer. Further studies in China prove that green tea drinkers develop less stomach cancers, prostate, esophageal and pancreatic cancers. There were few incidences of colorectal cancer in green tea drinkers in the Chinese study.
High tea consumption and the decrease of lung cancer risks were also shown in 22 studies conducted worldwide. It has been deduced that increasing your daily intake of green tea by two cups a day might just reduce the risk of developing lung cancers by up to 18 percent. Do remember that it is green tea, not black tea that is the positive factor in helping to reduce cancers.
Heart Disease
Again in Japanese research, it was discovered that drinking four cups of green tea or more every day might just be related to the reduction in coronary heart disease among males. In Holland, more than 3000 men and women discover that the more green tea consumed, the less the heart’s blood vessels were clogged and narrowed. Do not just drink green tea and expect to be healthy; utilize good eating habits and your thirty minutes per day of exercise to also combat cancer, heart disease and other weight related problems.
Scientists have stated that the antioxidants in green tea are dilators that improve the flexibility of your blood vessels. Blood vessels become less vulnerable to clogging. Do eat blueberries and pomegranates, too and gain the same antioxidant properties as in green teas.
Weight Loss
You have probably heard advertisements claiming that green tea will reduce weight. Of course, if you drink green tea before a meal you definitely will be too full to eat large proportions. Still, green tea and its extracts have been scientifically shown to fight obesity and lower LDL or bad cholesterol. In a Dutch study, those who downed caffeinated green tea did lose more weight, and those who drank decaffeinated green tea lost a bit of weight. Speculation is high that maybe the caffeine in green tea decreases fat retention.
Final Thoughts …
Go ahead and take weight loss supplements with green tea extracts. Green tea extracts not hurt your body, will probably help suppress your appetite and give you some weight losing properties. Do be aware; however that if you have liver problems you may not want to drink too much, if any, green tea.
Listen to and follow the studies that suggest if you incorporate a few cups of green tea a day, you will have positive health products. Green tea may not cure any of your health problems if your drink it as a drug, but it will complement a healthy diet.
Scientists and nutritionist do recommend that if your eat fruits and vegetables, grains, and nuts plus seeds and you exercise, plus drink green tea you will lose weight, help prevent coronary and cancer diseases.
