Green Tea
Green Black White and Oolong Teas
Green, black, white and oolong teas come from the leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant. Originally cultivated in East Asia, this plant now grows throughout Asia and parts of the Middle East and Africa.
People in Asian consume green and oolong tea while black tea is most popular in the United States.
What sets green tea apart is the way it is processed. Green tea leaves are steamed, which prevents the EGCG compound from being oxidized. By contrast, black and oolong tea leaves are made from fermented leaves.
The leaves of oolong tea are partially fermented, and black tea is fully fermented. The more the leaves are fermented, the lower the polyphenol content, and the higher the caffeine content. Green tea has the highest polyphenol content while black tea has roughly two to three times the caffeine content of green tea.
About these Healthy Teas
Tea leaves of all kinds, black, green, white and oolong tea: contain polyphenols, but as stated above green tea has more. Polyphenols help to protect your cells against dangerous compounds called free radicals which damage DNA and can contribute to heart disease, cancer and unhealthy aging.
Polyphenols are powerful antioxidants, many of which have anti-cancer activity. They neutralize enzymes that cause tumor growth, and deactivate cancer promoters.
Researchers stated that polyphenols help inhibit the growth of bacteria that cause bad breath. Green tea can also help prevent tooth decay. Just as its bacteria-destroying abilities can help prevent food poisoning, it can also kill the bacteria that causes dental plaque.
Researchers in Germany have found that a daily cup of black tea can help stop excess iron damaging the bodies of people who suffer from a high content of tannin, which limits iron absorption.
White tea actually has the highest amount of polyphenols, but all four kinds of tea are loaded with antioxidants and other compounds that promote health. This is why I believe it is important to drink a wide variety of green white, black and oolong teas.
About Green Tea:
Theanine, a substance in green tea , is helpful in improving moods and increasing a sense of relaxation. The calming effect of theanine may be the reason that drinking green tea, even with caffeine, doesn’t tend to produce nearly as many jitters as drinking coffee.
Benefits of Green Tea
The secret of green tea lies in the fact it is rich in catechins and polyphenols, particularly EGCG. EGCG is a powerful anti-oxidant: besides inhibiting the growth of cancer cells, it kills cancer cells without harming healthy tissue.
Is green tea beneficial? There are plenty of answers that researcher prove the natural properties of green tea is a benefit to health.
There is now preliminary evidence that drinking green tea may help prevent diabetes.
Green tea has also been effective in lowering LDL cholesterol levels, and inhibits’ the abnormal formation of blood clots.
But how many Cups are of tea should you drink
For example, Herbs for Health magazine cites a Japanese report stating that men who drank ten cups of green tea per day stayed cancer-free for three years longer than men who drank less than three cups a day (there are approximately 240 - 320 mg of polyphenols in three cups of green tea).
Meanwhile, a study by Cleveland’s Western Reserve University concluded that drinking four or more cups of green tea per day could help prevent rheumatoid arthritis, or reduce symptoms in individuals already suffering from the disease. And the Saitama Cancer Research Institute discovered that there were fewer recurrences of breast cancer, and the disease spread less quickly, in women with a history of drinking five cups or more of green tea daily.
It gets more confusing. A University of California study on the cancer-preventative qualities of green tea concluded that you could probably attain the desired level of polyphenols by drinking merely two cups per day.
Links are being made between the effects of drinking green tea and the French Paradox . For years, researchers were puzzled by the fact that the French consuming a diet rich in fat. The answer was found in red wine, which contains resveratrol, a polyphenol that limits the negative effects of high a fat diet.
In a 1997 study, researchers from the University of Kansas determined that EGCG is twice as powerful as resveratrol, which may explain why the rate of heart disease among Japanese men is quite low, even though approximately seventy-five percent are smokers.
The list goes on:
- Cancer: studies suggest that green tea protects against a range of cancers, including lung, prostate and breast cancer.
- anti-inflammatory, helps with rheumatoid arthritis
- protects against heart disease, reduces high cholesterol levels
- helps build and strengthens the immune functions
According to the National Cancer Institute, using animals shows, catechins stopped oxidation before cell damage could occurred, reducing the number and size of tumors, and inhibited the growth of cancer cells.
Tea for dieting and Weight loss
Green tea will help anyone who wants to lose weight. Research shows one study where men who were given green tea burned more calories than men who were given a similar drink without the green tea.
Clinical trials conducted by the University of Geneva and the University of Birmingham indicate that green tea raises metabolic rates, speeds up fat oxidation and improves insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance.
In addition to caffeine, green tea contains catechin polyphenols that raise the rate at which calories are burned, and hence increases energy expenditure.
These teas can be a benefit to everyone’s health, They offer powerful antioxidant protection, reduces blood sugar, are anti-inflammatory, they lower cholesterol, protect against heart disease and cancer and they have the ability to stimulate the metabolism to help with weight loss. Why wouldn’t you want to drink these healthy teas.
Breath Mints
Green tea mints are just that. Sugar free; no artificial additives; three mints equal to approximately same level of polyphenols as one cup green tea.
