What Is Green Tea Good For?

2024 Author: Josephine Shorter | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 21:43

What is good about green tea

500 years have passed since the time when a person put tea leaves in boiling water and drank the resulting drink with great pleasure. What did he like about this drink? Is it possible that a person already knew about the beneficial properties of this drink? We will not be able to find out, but this custom smoothly spread throughout the globe and people began to gather for tea.

Not so long ago, many were interested in green tea, which was widespread only in Asia. And now green tea has won fame all over the world as a healthy drink. But it would still be nice to know what useful properties it still has.

What's inside

To find out what useful properties this drink has, we will analyze it into its component parts:

- Green tea contains polyphenol, phytochemicals with antioxidant properties, which give tea a bitter taste.

- Green tea contains 6 catechins, and there are more of them than black tea or oolong (a type of Chinese tea).

- Epigallocachetin gallate (EGCG) is the most active and studied catechin found in green tea.

- Green tea has a stimulating effect due to the content of alkaloids (although in a smaller amount than in black tea).

Is green tea good for you?

To date, there is no definite answer about the usefulness of this tea. Several studies have shown that green tea actually has positive health effects. However, scientists believe that the facts are not enough for the final decision.

Nevertheless, green tea is beneficial for the following diseases:

Cardiovascular diseases

Some large studies suggest that drinking green tea reduces the risk of stroke and coronary artery disease. The results are a bit confusing though. Drinking green tea lowers blood cholesterol levels, but has absolutely no effect on blood pressure. It is because of this ambiguity and uncertainty that in many countries green tea producers are not allowed to claim heart health benefits.

Crayfish

Can Green Tea Prevent Cancer? The results of human studies are mixed. And studies carried out on animals have given a fairly convincing result.

Excess weight

Studies have shown that when using green tea or green tea extract tablets, metabolism is accelerated, which helps burn fat. Again, the results are not entirely straightforward.

There is some evidence that green tea is beneficial for diabetes, stress, tooth decay, and viral infections. However, there are no exact prescriptions of doctors for the use of green tea, as there is little data for this.

How much green tea should you drink?

If green tea is beneficial, why not drink it? How much can you consume, how many cups per day? Numerous studies have shown that drinking three to ten cups a day has good health effects. Therefore, in this range, everyone will be able to decide for himself how many cups he should drink.

How to make green tea

Freshly brewed hot tea infused for 3-5 minutes will bring you the maximum benefit. This brewing produces the highest concentration of catechins. Attention should be paid to the fact that the older the tea leaves, the more catechins they contain. Tea that does not contain caffeine, tea in bottles or tea bags, tends to contain much less of these substances. Unlike green tea extract capsules, they can be compared to freshly brewed tea. The recommended dose of green tea polyphenols is 250-400 milligrams per day, which is about three cups of tea.

Does the addition of milk affect the properties of green tea?

As a rule, milk is not added to green tea. It is impossible to say for sure what effect milk has on catechins. Some studies have shown that milk blocks catechins, and some don't.

Can green tea be harmful?

Green tea contains caffeine, which can cause unwanted reactions. Caffeine easily penetrates the placenta and breast milk, for this reason, pregnant women or breastfeeding mothers should take this fact into account, they may want to stop drinking green tea.

Green tea also contains tannin, which interferes with the absorption of metals from fruits and vegetables. However, lemon compensates for this effect due to its high vitamin C content, so feel free to add lemon to your tea.

Also, when using certain medications, it is not recommended to drink green tea. This is often due to the caffeine content of tea. It is not recommended to consume green tea with adenosine, beta-lactam antibiotics, aspirin, benzodiazepines, beta-blockers, chemotherapy, ephedrine, oral contraceptives, etc. When using medications - consult your doctor.

Video about the benefits of green tea

Learn more: The benefits and harms of green tea - the most complete information!

Article author: Mochalov Pavel Alexandrovich | d. m. n. therapist

Education: Moscow Medical Institute. IM Sechenov, specialty - "General Medicine" in 1991, in 1993 "Occupational Diseases", in 1996 "Therapy".