Green Tea Benefits Background
September 15, 2008
Green tea has been used as a medicinal drink in China and surrounding areas for over 4,000 years. This ancient drink still has it’s benefits, even in modern times. Worldwide associations and organizations have studied green tea and have come to the conclusion that it is indeed very healthy.
The benefits of green tea range from cancer prevention to lowering risk of infection. Drinking green tea can also lower the overall cholesterol level and strengthen the good cholesterol versus the bad cholesterol. Green tea can also improve those who have rheumatoid arthritis. A certain compound in green tea (EGCG) reduces the damage of the joints and general inflammation in cases of rheumatoid arthritis. EGCG has also been found to reduce cancer growth, kill cancer cells, reduce blood clots, and lower cholesterol.
Besides these grand effects, green tea can also help those who have slightly smaller goals. A study in Switzerland showed that men who ingested green tea extract burned more calories than those who ingested a placebo. It’s now possible to advance any sort of exercise with green tea and the health benefits it carries. Tooth decay can also be reduced using green tea. The tea can kill plaque-causing bacteria. Treatments for the skin that include green tea are also appearing because of its abilities.
A Japanese man claims to have prolonged his cancer-free period in life by drinking a total of ten cups of green tea a day. Men who drank three cups a day had cancer beginning to appear three years earlier. Japanese scientists have also discovered that there were less situations of breast cancer in women who drank five cups of green tea every day. To be on the safe side, one should probably drink around four or five cups of green tea every day. Extra amounts of green tea ingested have not been proven to give additional health benefits.
Health Benefits of Green Tea
September 15, 2008
The Chinese have always touted green tea as having a large number of medical benefits even before the dawn of modern civilization. They have always used green tea to treat anything from depression to headaches and fever. Nowadays, various studies and scientific research have proven that the health benefits associated with green tea are indeed true.
For example, a study conducted by the National Cancer Institute back in 1994 indicated that the risk of esopagheal cancer in Chinese men and women have been reduced by as much as sixty percent due to regular drinking of Green tea. The researchers in University of Purdue, on the other hand, have successfully conducted a study that confirms green tea’s help in inhibiting the growth of cancer cells. Additionally, there were also studies that have posited a lowering of total cholesterol levels and improvement of good cholesterol levels due to religious drinking of green tea.
To sum it up, green tea has been proven to help prevent cases of cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, high cholesterol levels, cardiovascular (heart related) diseases, weak immune functions, and helps prevent infections. This seemingly miraculous capability of green tea comes from the fact that it is rich in catechin polyphenols, which is a powerful anti-oxidant. It is one of the few natural anti-oxidants that can help kill cancer cells without harming healthy tissue, while preventing the growth of new ones.
The habit of drinking green tea among the Chinese is one of the contributing factors why they are regarded as being healthier than other races, and it would do a person good to adopt the habit and use it to replace coffee drinking and smoking.