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Green tea is known to be a healthier substitute to normal beverages like coffee and other types of tea, owing to its lower caffeine content. It also contains very strong, natural antioxidants called polyphenols that not only help you attain a healthy body, skin & hair, but also help to block the growth of cancer cells as well.
Green tea is also a healthier option due to the way it is processed. It is derived from the leaves of the plant, Camellia sinensis. The green leaves for green tea are steamed, which helps in preventing the catechins from oxidizing, while black and oolong tea are made from fermented leaves, which leads to the loss of this very important antioxidant. Of late, a majority of the people living in Western countries have switched over from drinking black tea to green tea.
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Tip
To get the most out of your cup of green tea, we suggest that you brew it from the loose tea leaves instead of using the tea bag for convenience. This not only imparts flavor but also allows the release of more antioxidants into your cup.
Here are some additional benefits of consuming green tea on a daily basis:
1. Promotes Healthier Skin
Green tea is known for its rich content of antioxidants and anti-anging elements. These can help delay signs of skin ageing such as fine lines, wrinkles and sun damage. Regular consumption of green tea flushes out unwanted toxins from the body, thereby helping you have healthy skin.
2. Helps Detox Your Body
Detoxing one’s body helps improve metabolism. Green tea refreshes hydrates and cleanses the body of unhealthy toxins. The catechins in green tea improve the fat metabolism and reduce toxic effects on liver. It reduces pressure on the liver, which is the body’s major detoxing organ.
3. Helps Prevent Cancer
Cancer rates are lower in countries, like Japan, where green tea is a go-to drink, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center. While researchers can’t be sure that green tea alone is responsible for low cancer rates, the tea does contain the chemicals EGCG, EGC, ECG, and EC, which are known for their antioxidant activity. These chemicals may help protect cells from DNA damage, one of the first steps in the growth cancer cells. Plus, properties of green tea could help protect your skin from the sun’s UV damage, the leading cause of skin cancer.
4. Build Immunity
Green tea contains compounds such as poly-phenol ans flavonoids which boosts your immune system. These phytoconstituents act as antimicrobial agents, thereby helping the body fight against infection as well as. Moreover, the antioxidants in green tea strengthen and protect the immune system against compounds known as free radicals, which are known to harm living cells and tissues.
5. Helps in Removal of Phlegm
Green tea contains polyphenols which have potent anti-bacterial properties that fight against infections and reduce formation of phlegm. For best results, prepare some green tea and add a little honey to it before drinking it.
6. Good For Your Heart
Drinking green tea every day could help lower your risk of heart disease, according to Harvard Medical School. Regular tea drinkers showed a 26 percent lower risk of dying from a heart attack or stroke in a Japanese study of over 40,000 participants. But these participants consumed at least five cups of green tea per day, so drink up if you’re after a healthy heart.
7. Curbs Cholesterol
A high level of cholesterol in the body can increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases. Green tea contains catechins that are known to reduce low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol in the body which causes plaque in the arteries, leading to a blockage.
8. Green Tea Could Help You Maintain a Healthy Weight
It could even reduce body fat, researchers found in one 12-week study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Green tea extract may also have the power to decrease obesity and obesity-related illness, like diabetes.
9. Relieves Physical and Mental Fatigue
According to estimates by the World Health Organisation (WHO), over 450 million people suffer from stress worldwide. Green tea contains polyphenols that help reduce stress, boost energy and improve mental focus. The various antioxidants that are present in green tea also have a calming effect on the mind and body, which helps in creating a positive mood.
10. Green Tea Boosts Energy
Some studies have found that green tea can boost your energy levels, most likely thanks to the caffeine. In fact, Japanese researchers found that when endurance athletes drank four cups of green tea a day for about 12 weeks, their overall endurance increased between 8 to 24 percent almost across the board.
Is Green Tea Good For You?
Green tea is safe to drink, but it is important not to consume too much of it. Like everything, it is best in moderation. This beverage has become extremely popular in recent years, but with all its goodness, it also comes with a dark side. Here is a brief look at some of the effects of drinking too much green tea:
- A number of health problems can crop up if you drink more than 3 to 5 cups of green tea a day. These problems include insomnia, nausea, diarrhoea, restlessness etc.
- Pregnant women should not drink more than 2 cups of this beverage in a day, as it can increase the risk of miscarriages and other problems. Lactating women should also keep away from green tea as the caffeine in it can get passed into the breast milk and affect the baby.• Green tea can have adverse effects on the body when it is combined with any medication that you are prescribed. It is best to talk to your doctor if it is safe to drink it while taking your medication.
- Drinking an excessive amount of green tea can have an effect on the amount of calcium that is flushed out with urine. This will obviously cause a deficiency of calcium, which you can compensate with calcium supplements.
As mentioned earlier, it is not green tea that is unsafe, it is its excessive consumption. You can drink it regularly, but remember not to exceed 5 cups a day. You should also remember to consult your healthcare provider before you include it in your daily diet to make sure that it does not interfere with your medication, or cause any problem to you.
We have seen what are the best benefits of green tea and about its safety profile. But, it is healthy and beneficial only when it is consumed in moderation. Green tea has side effects but most of them occur due to excessive consumption. Stick to 2-3 cups of green tea a day and get ready to lead a healthy life and derive all the benefits from this healthy habit.
Hope you liked our post on benefits of drinking green tea. Do tell us your experiences with green tea in the section below. Take care!
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