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.
Can Tea Help Prevent Cancer?
The short answer to the question in the title is: no. But there are many studies that give weight to the belief that it certainly helps.
Lung, prostate, breast, bladder and other cancers have all been the subject of intense research over the past 50 years. All of them have been favorably influenced by compounds commonly found in tea.
One of the most promising of recent finds is the identification of an antioxidant called EGCG (epigallocatechin gallate).
Antioxidants have long been believed to help hinder or slow the growth of cancer cells and tumors. U.S. National Cancer Institute studies have shown that catechins, a component of tea, inactivate oxidants, reducing the number and size of tumors.
EGCG may be one of the reasons.
Patients in a recent Japanese study at Kyushu University drank two to three cups of green tea per day, rich in EGCG. The researchers found that human lung cancer cells grew more slowly when they did. In test tube studies, EGCG inhibited an enzyme that cancer cells require in order to grow and divide.
A Spanish/British co-study reinforces the idea. Researchers at the University of Murcia and the John Innes Center in England found that EGCG in green tea prevented cancer cells from growing large enough to divide. The mechanism is believed to be the result of EGCG’s ability to bind to the specific enzyme (dihydrofolate reductase) needed.
USC (University of Southern California) researchers studying breast cancer found similar results. Green tea drinkers had a lower incidence of tumors, even adjusting for other factors such as family history, exercise and diet. Here, one important factor appears to be the ability of certain compounds in tea to inhibit the growth of blood vessels.
Cancer cells, just like any other, need nutrients from blood in order to grow. They stimulate the growth of blood vessels in order to supply themselves. Tea inhibits that ability, according to a joint study by the University of California and the University of Texas.
Other studies show that drinking five cups per day can help boost the immune system, providing the body with an ability to combat emerging cancer cells. Alkylamine antigens are thought to be responsible. Ingesting them by drinking tea produces a more vigorous response against tumors.
Another study examined bladder cancer. An extract made from green tea altered the actions of actin, a structural protein needed by cancer cells to function. A process called ‘remodeling’ allows cancer cells to invade nearby healthy tissue. A compound made from green tea modified the cancer cell’s ability to carry out this process.
While the specific mechanisms are still a matter of ongoing research, a cluster of studies all point to tea’s ability to assist in preventing cancers. There are no known downsides to consuming a few cups per day, either. It’s a smart choice.
