Green Tea has long been recognised by the Chinese for its health benefits; they’ve been drinking it of over 4000 years. But its only relatively recently that it has travelled to the west and word of its various healing properties have been given any credence. Over the last 30 or so anecdotal evidence that green tea benefits are able to combat everything from weight loss to cancer has started to be backed up by scientific proof. Of course everyone is different and there is no guarantee that individuals will all experience the same results but there is definite evidence that drinking green tea on a regular basis can help cure or prevent any number of ailments including:
Reducing cholesterol
Shrink tumors/cause cancerous cells to die
Improve blood vessel function
Slow the passage of glucose in diabetics and regulate insulin levels
Lower blood pressure
Reduce triglycerides
Provide protection against heart attack and stroke
Act as an anti-inflammatory and promotes the growth of good bacteria in the intestine
Staves off Alzheimer’s – investigations taking place suggest it may work on Parkinson’s as well
Inhibit viral infections
Fight bad breath
Prevent aging
Trigger weight loss
Pretty impressive. But how can a simple drink whose origins are as distant as the mountains from which it has sprung provide so many benefits? Well here’s the science bit….
Antioxidants.
Green tea is full of them. Antioxidants are the ingredients we find in fruit and vegetables on a daily basis (and we know how healthy they are), but green tea carries almost 8-10 times as many as you’d find in your daily apple. It is these same antioxidants that are able to combat the effect of ‘free radicals’ on our bodies. A free radical is a complicated scientific term for the atoms in our bodies which contribute to aging, damage skin, liver disease, emphysema and some types of cancer.
Overall then it seems that there is growing support in the west for the benefits to be gained from drinking green tea, and after all 1.3 billion chinese people can’t all be wrong!