I absolutely love green tea;
It’s something I’ve been drinking for quite a while now, majorly as a healthy substitute for coffee.
Since I’m such a fan, I wanted to write this article to give you an explanation of the best green tea benefits, that have a tremendous affect on your overall health. Let’s begin!
What is green tea made out of?
Green tea originated in china, although now you can find it grown in many Asian countries. It’s produced from camellia sinensis leaves that aren’t oxidized or withered as much as in the process of other creating other tea’s that use the same leaves.
There are several different varieties grown, however for every single one, the verdict is the same. Green tea is a super-food, with a lot of potential benefits attached.
How much green tea should you drink a day?
Scientists that have been responsible for researching the benefits we’re about to explain, suggest that the more you drink, the greater the benefits. However, 10 cups per day is the limit, with 3-4 cups a day being recommended.
The most common way of consuming green tea would obviously be making a cup of hot tea like you’d usually consume any other form of tea.
However, if you’re not a fan of the taste (which many aren’t), there’s other ways to consume it:
- Pure extract tablets
- Powder
Both are just as good as each other, however drinking it like normal would make the most sense. Since it’s easy and inexpensive to buy teabags. Just pop to the supermarket, buy a bulk load, and then pop back home and make a cup of tea.
Here’s a serious question for regular green tea drinkers:
Milk or no milk?
It’s got to be with milk right? Improves the taste!
Anyway, I’m digressing. Let’s get more into why you should start drinking green tea on a daily basis.
The 10 Best Green Tea Benefits For Your Health
Here are the best green tea benefits, listed in no particular order. There’s some amazing facts about green tea here that will blow your mind, and improve your health not just on the inside, but on the outside also.
1. Increases Your Metabolism
One of the most famous green tea facts, is that consuming the stuff can rapidly boost your metabolism. Just a few cups a day, and you may be able to shed those last few pounds you’ve been struggling to lose.
The important thing to remember though, is that the effect of green tea on one’s metabolism will vary between people.
Studies have shown that regularly drinking green tea has helped decrease body fat, so you can’t help but make it a daily ritual to down 2 or 3 cups.
2. Reduces Bad Cholesterol
Green tea helps to reduce the levels of bad cholesterol, or LDL, in your blood one cup at a time. Yet it has no affect on the levels of good cholesterol in your blood, which is a good thing.
A serial green tea drinker, looking to down 8-10 cups of the stuff per day, can expect to see an enormous reduction in their cholesterol levels. And whilst none of us will probably be drinking anywhere near that much, even 2-3 cups a day can have a powerful effect.
For more info on this, check out this article where the research is shown.
3. Improved Dental Health
The anti-oxidants in green tea have been proven over the years to improve dental health. This is particularly the case for your gums. Green tea helps to stimulate gum growth and regeneration, where gums may have been irritated or suffered from slight bleeding.
The study was conducted with 940 men taking part; and conclusively showed that the men who regularly drank green tea had superior dental health.
Although, that’s not to say that you should start drinking the stuff to try and get rid of any mild gum/teeth problems you’re having! See a dentist!
4. Lowers Blood Pressure
Another of the best green tea benefits for your health, is that it helps to reduce blood pressure. Studies have also been performed on this, and they stated that the suggested intake of green tea was roughly 3-4 cups per day.
From drinking 3-4 cups per day, for a long period of time, people’s blood pressure’s can naturally be lowered, especially if they suffer with high blood pressure in the first place.
5. Healthy Skin
Green tea contains a lot of anti-oxidants, which is why it’s such a healthy drink to consume. It possesses powerful healing properties, but particularly in contributing to healthy skin.
Here’s how green tea can promote healthy skin:
- Improves skin complexion
- Treats acne and spots
- Stimulates hair growth
- Slows down aging
- Reduces bags or circles under eyes
Are you sold yet?
6. Helps Fight Cancer
There’s always a lot of skepticism when it comes to foods preventing cancer. However, here’s the research on green tea and cancer prevention:
At least 20 official studies concluded that there was a correlation between the amount of green tea people drink, and the risk of developing lung cancer.
The conclusion was that people who drink green tea twice a day are 18% less likely to develop lung cancer during their lifetime.
EGCG in green tea helps to kill cells that aren’t growing properly, and therefore could be at risk of becoming cancerous.
7. Reduce the Risk of Alzheimer’s
As well as being able to fight cancer, there’s also been a correlation between drinking green tea and reducing the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.
While this research is still being developed, and nothing’s certain, it has shown that drinking green tea helps protect our brain cells. It can help stimulate cell regeneration, and slow down the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.
The hope is that when this research is thoroughly developed, it will prove that drinking green tea can significantly reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, and not just slow down its progression.
8. Contributes to A Healthy Heart
Another of the amazing benefits of green tea is that it helps contribute to healthy heart function, and reduces the risks of any associated diseases.
As I previously stated earlier on in the article, green tea is rich in anti-oxidants. Due to these anti-oxidants presenting some of the aforementioned benefits, such as lowered blood pressure and cholesterol levels, this reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease.
Green tea is most commonly consumed in Japan, where a study was conducted. The study found that when women drink green tea, death from cardiovascular disease was reduced by 31%. Similarly, in men this number was 22%.
9. Improved Relaxation
Just when you thought this article was going to be all about fighting and preventing diseases, let’s switch it up.
A simple benefit of drinking green tea is that it helps you to relax. Through the effect green tea has on your mental health, it helps reduce stress and fight depression.
Which in turn, leaves you a lot more relaxed. So for anybody who’s reading this article thinking that you’re unlikely to be affected by any of the diseases mentioned; maybe you’re young etc. How about starting with the fact that green tea helps you relax?
That fact appeals to everyone!
10. Benefits Brain Function
Last but not least on the list of the best green tea benefits; is the benefit it has on your brain function.
We’ve briefly touched on this in a couple of the points above. We’ve mentioned that green tea reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s disease. We’ve also mentioned that it can improve your mental health.
The overall effect green tea has on brain function is very powerful. A study had this to say on the matter:
“OUR FINDINGS PROVIDE FIRST EVIDENCE FOR THE PUTATIVE BENEFICIAL EFFECT OF GREEN TEA ON COGNITIVE FUNCTIONING, IN PARTICULAR, ON WORKING MEMORY PROCESSING AT THE NEURAL SYSTEM LEVEL BY SUGGESTING CHANGES IN SHORT-TERM PLASTICITY OF PARIETO-FRONTAL BRAIN CONNECTIONS.
MODELING EFFECTIVE CONNECTIVITY AMONG FRONTAL AND PARIETAL BRAIN REGIONS DURING WORKING MEMORY PROCESSING MIGHT HELP TO ASSESS THE EFFICACY OF GREEN TEA FOR THE TREATMENT OF COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENTS IN PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS SUCH AS DEMENTIA.”
The Benefits of Green Tea Continued…
Sure, the benefits of drinking green tea that I listed above are the most beneficial/popular. Yet, there are so many more benefits someone can experience from becoming a regular drinker.
To show you how much you’re missing out on, here’s the continued list:
- Natural stimulant
- Hydration
- Natural pain relief
- Reduced stress
- Helps with inflammation
- Boosts your immune system
- Prevents memory loss
- Reduces excess fluid in the body
- Prevents Parkinson’s disease
- Less caffeine than coffee
I’m sure there’s still more to be listed, but it’s likely they’re quite low down on the list. After the above, that brings the total number of green tea benefits here to 20!
A Quick Green Tea FAQ
Before I conclude the article, I just wanted to include this quick green tea FAQ, to answer any remaining questions you may have. Here are some common questions:
Q: How much green tea should you consume per day?
3-4 cups per day is a great amount to experience all the possible benefits. 10 is the limit to consume.
Q: Does green tea contain caffeine?
Yes, a cup of green tea contains 25mg of caffeine. This is a low amount, especially in comparison to coffee.
Q: Is green tea safe for pregnant women?
Green tea is safe for pregnant women to drink. There has never been any advice given against drinking it if pregnant. It’s just important to remember green tea still contains caffeine. So don’t drink obsessive amounts.
Q: Are there any side effects to green tea?
There can be side effects to drinking green tea. However, they are very rare, and only likely if the tea is brewed improperly. These include nervousness, dizziness, confusion and sleeping issues.
Summary
Now that we’ve run through all the best green tea benefits in detail, let’s quickly recap them again below:
- Increases your metabolism
- Reduces bad cholesterol
- Improved dental health
- Lowers blood pressure
- Healthy skin
- Anti-bacterial
- Reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s
- Contribute to a healthy heart
- Improved relaxation
- Benefits brain function
3 Ways to purchase and consume green tea:
- Teabags
- Extract tablets
- Powder
In Conclusion
Green tea is awesome! No doubt about it!
The green tea benefits on this list may vary depending on the person and how much of the stuff you drink a day. If you’re only drinking a cup a day, you may not experience these benefits to their full extent.
Overall, green tea is a great drink to consume regularly. If you can substitute out your morning coffee for green tea, it would be a smart move for your health.
There’s a lot less caffeine in this tea compared to coffee. So you’re able to inject yourself with improved health, and not get addicted to caffeine in the process.
Yet, there’s enough caffeine in a cup for a nice little energy boost!
How often do you drink green tea? Leave a comment below.