Green Tea To Make You Healthy, Wealthy and Wise
It is not always that we are so fortunate that something we enjoy is good for us. How lucky we are that green tea fits that role so well!
The role of green tea in promoting health has been much in the news in the last few years. There is ample evidence that, consumed in moderation, green tea indeed does aid many aspects of functioning. Some of these benefits have been known for over a thousand years.
The polyphenols, flavonoids and even caffeine (in moderate quantities) present in green tea are all known to help the body protect itself. Green tea helps lower cholesterol (the ‘bad’ kind), absorbs free radicals that can damage cell membranes and reduces the prospect of certain cancers.
Despite Federal FDA denials, many studies lend strong support to those who tout green tea’s benefits. Black tea, as well, has most of the same benefits.
But green tea has many virtues beyond the medicinal. It tastes delightful and provides a relaxing form of enjoyment in a hectic world.
Just as with black or Oolong tea, green tea comes from the leaves of an evergreen called Camellia Sinensis. They are plucked, then processed. But unlike black tea, green tea leaves do not go through a long oxidation process.
Instead, green tea leaves are steamed, which retains the EGCG (epigallocatechin gallate) antioxidants. Black and Oolong teas undergo ‘fermentation’ which converts the EGCG into other compounds. ‘Fermentation’ in tea, despite the use of the same word, is not the same process as in winemaking. No sugars are converted to alcohol. It’s simply a synonym for oxidation, more or less.
As a result, the tea flavor is much more delicate and the aroma and taste retain much more of the ‘vegetative’ quality from the original bush. That flavor is enjoyed in a hundred varieties by tea drinkers the world over.
The Long Jing tea from Hang Zhou in China, pan dried and flat in appearance, often goes by the name Dragon Well. This green tea is among the most common drinks in China. Yet for all its commonality, it makes a fine brew. The Gyokuro, also known as Jewel Dew as a consequence of its color, is another fine green tea from China.
The Ryokucha from Japan is a green tea that is so common there that a form of the word (ocha) is often taken to mean simply ‘tea’. Connoisseurs regard the green tea from the Uji region of Kyoto to be among the finest. Matcha is a powdered green tea once used primarily in tea ceremonies. Now it is so popular throughout Japan and elsewhere that it finds its way into ice cream and other sweets.
Gunpowder, which has nothing to do with the explosive, is another popular variety. The leaves are rolled into tiny pellets, making for a very intense infusion. Its muscatel overtones make for a wonderful brew.
There is even a green tea-style Earl Grey. Though without the heady flavor of the more common black tea type, the bergamot oil combines well with green tea.
So if you have always been a committed black tea drinker, it’s time to open up your horizons. It may not make you wealthy, but it can give you enjoyment and promote your health. And isn’t that very wise?
Green Tea For Healthy Skin Care
A recent Science Daily article noted that tea extract can heal skin that has been damaged by radiation. The study was done on cancer patients who underwent radiation therapy that caused skin damage. It showed that the tea extract worked on the cellular level of the skin to reduce inflammation and toxicity. Both black and green tea extracts worked well, although green tea proved more effective, at least in some patients.
This is good news for tea lovers who are concerned about the health of their skin. And even if you are not much of a tea drinker, you can purchase skin care products that contain tea extract to take advantage of its natural properties. There are also a number of health drinks that contain green tea extract as an ingredient, and you could include them in your diet if you prefer.
Of course, the skin care properties of green tea have been known for some time by natural health enthusiasts, but it was not until relatively recently that the scientific establishment has documented findings that agreed with the advice doled out by traditionalists.
Another special property of black and green tea is that they contain natural compound known as catechins, which are natural antioxidants. Catechins are highly present in the Camellia sinensis plant, which is the source of various tea products, including green tea and black tea.
Antioxidants are effective chemical compounds that counter the effects of free radicals on skin. Free radicals, which are highly reactive oxygen molecules, cause damage to the skin proteins that keep your skin smooth and elastic. When these proteins are damaged, your skin becomes prone to wrinkles. Antioxidants are able to absorb and heal the effects of free radicals on skin, and thus slow down some of the visible signs of aging.
The catechins found in green tea and black tea are only one type of naturally occurring antioxidants. Caretenoids, coumarins, and indoles also belong in the antioxidants group and in fact they are all more common than catechins. All of these natural chemical compounds are found mainly in plants. That means that a diet rich in fruits and vegetables would provide your body with a healthy supply of antioxidants that can help you keep younger-looking skin for much longer. Supplementing such a diet with green tea intake can prove even more effective.
Green tea has also been shown to be an effective cancer preventative. Therefore by consuming it you are not only keeping your skin young and fresh, but possibly prolonging your lifetime as well.
Can Tea Prevent Heart Disease?
There are numerous studies that lend credence to a popular idea that tea can help improve heart health but the answer is there is no conclusive evidence that tea prevents heart disease.
Tea contains a type of polyphenol compound called catechins. Many teas undergo oxidation of catechins, producing theaflavins. Which, and how much, of each type of compound varies between types of tea.
White teas undergo the least processing, typically being protected from oxidation. The buds are harvested young and they don’t go through the drying process that causes other teas to darken. That leaves all the original catechins intact. Green teas undergo slight oxidation and black teas get the most. But each type still has heart health benefits, despite the differing concentrations and forms of polyphenols.
In one six year Dutch study of almost 5,000 men and women, those who drank a little more than a cup and a half per day had a risk of heart attack only two-thirds that of non-tea drinkers. A Japanese study followed over 8,500 men and women for 12 years. It found those who drank at least four cups of green tea per day had about half the risk of coronary disease of non-tea drinkers.
Tea is known to help reduce the formation of the harmful form of cholesterol, LDL. The flavonoids in tea prevent it from oxidizing. That adds to the beneficial effects by decreasing the risk of hardening of the arteries.
It isn’t only green tea which has heart health benefits, though.
Heart attack and blood pressure are closely related. Higher blood pressure increases the risk of heart attack, as well as contributing to other health problems.
Black tea consumption helps reduce blood pressure by reducing the risk of atherosclerosis, which interferes with the ability of blood vessels to relax. Blood pressure measurements in one study were lower among tea drinkers. The risk of hypertension (high blood pressure) were cut in half by consuming just one cup per day. For those who consumed three cups per day, the risk was lowered by two-thirds.
Myocardial infarction is one common form of heart attack. A Harvard study done ten years ago found that a single cup of black tea per day lowered Myocardial infarction risk by 44%, compared to non-tea drinkers.
One study suggests that the mechanism may be, in part, the result of tea’s ability to reduce clotting. Participants in the study who drank black tea had lower levels of a blood protein associated with coagulation.
Tea drinking can help those who do suffer a heart attack increase their chances of surviving, according to more than one study. A Boston study of 1,900 people who had heart attacks related their recovery to tea consumption. The more tea they drank, the lower the death rate, 28% lower for those who had at least two cups per week.
The good news is there is no known downside to moderate daily tea consumption. It’s a smart choice.