Friday, May 30, 2008

13 Health Benefits of Green Tea

13 Health Benefits of Green Tea
Arina Nikitina

Green tea has been enjoyed by people in China and Japan for
thousands of years. Over the time it has become widely
known in the West.

A lot of people nowadays have heard that green tea benefits
the overall health, but not a lot know why exactly. And
believe me after I've learned all the health benefits of
green tea, I get completely different feeling every time I
drink it. I not only enjoy the taste of it but I also get
the moral satisfaction knowing that I am doing something
right and extremely healthy for my body. I want you to have
exactly the same feeling I have, so here are the benefits
that you get while sipping delicious cup of tea.

Green tea contains anti-oxidants that:

1. Helps to prevent cancer.
The is some strong evidence that green tea included in you
every day diet can reduce bladder, colon, esophageal,
pancreas, rectum, and stomach cancer up to 60%. An
antioxidant known as "epigallocatechin gallate" (EGCG for
short) is at least 100 more times more effective than
vitamin C and 25 times more effective than vitamin E at
protecting cells from harmful influence.

The amazing thing about it that EGCG it not only inhibits
the growth of new cancer cells it also kills some of the
existing cancer sells without harming the healthy ones.

2. Lowers "bad" cholesterol (known as LDL) and improves the
ratio of "good" cholesterol (known as HDL). It explains why
tea-drinkers can eat almost twice the foods containing
cholesterol as those who don't drink green tea, but still
have an equal cholesterol count.

3. Stops the unnatural formation of blood cloth which if
not taken care of will cause thrombosis. It takes on added
importance if you consider that thrombosis is one of the
main causes of strokes and heart attacks.

4. Reduces high blood pressure by repressing angiotensin II
which causes constriction of the blood vessels causing high
blood pressure.

5. Lowers blood sugar (polyphenols and polysaccharides are
the two main antioxidants are especially effective in
lowering blood sugar). That helps prevent and relieve
type-two diabetes.

6. Protects liver against toxins like alcohol and chemicals
in cigarette smoke.

7. Promotes oral health by suppress the process of plaque
formation and destroys the bacteria that forms plaque. It
also destroys bacteria that causes bad breath, so after
eating something sweet I suggest you drink a cup of green
tea.

8. Destroys free radicals that cause aging.

9. Boosts your immune system function (because of its high
concentration of polyphenols and flaveboids).

10. Possess antibacterial and antiviral properties. Recent
studies show that green tea inhibits the spread of disease,
speeds up recovery from cold and flu. It also kills seven
strains of food poisoning bacteria including clostridium,
botulus and staphylococcus (which makes it a good treatment
for diarrhea).

11. Helps your body to maintain healthy fluid balance and
relieve fatigue and stress often caused by dehydration.

12. Blocks main receptors that produce allergic reactions.

13. Stimulates metabolism, calorie burning process and is
wildly being used as an important part of a healthy diet.

It is important to know that black tea, even though it
comes from the same plant as a green tea, will not give you
the same benefits. Black tea during fermentation process
loses most of its medical benefits.

The best way to preserve all the disease-fighting
nutrition is to drink your tea freshly brewed. All the
decaffeinated, ready-to-drink bottled or instant teas will
give you very little of natural health compounds. It is
better to let your tea steep for about 4-5 minutes before
drinking it.

I hope that after reading this article you will include a
cup of green tea in your daily ratio. After all it is a
rare case when something that good for our health can be
also that delicious.


Arina Nikitina is the owner of the website
GreenTeaSecrets.com, where you'll find a lot of free
information about green tea, learn how green tea can
benefit to your health and how it can help you lose weight.