Numerous Health Benefits from The Green Tea Antioxidant

The people of Japan have enjoyed the health benefits of the green tea antioxidant for centuries; the benefits of green tea are just starting to catch on in the West. Similar to the effect that red wine has in the diet of the French, green tea can be attributed to low numbers of heart disease and cancer in Japan. Green tea has many benefits to a person’s health, including weight loss! This is all due to the powerful green tea antioxidant that is in all green teas.


Combating Free Radicals

Oxygen is a vital to the body’s proper function; oxygen helps us to burn glucose and fat to give us energy. However, sometimes oxygen can be converted into free radicals; an inordinate amount of free radicals in the body can lead to diseases. Free radicals change the way your cells code genetic material and step up the pace on the aging process. Too many free radicals in the system can also cause cancer, heart disease and high blood pressure; all nasty degenerative diseases that we want to avoid.

Green tea contains four main polyphenols that are collectively called catechins. The most potent green tea antioxidant is epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG); this antioxidant blocks the effect that cancer-inducing chemicals have on the body; the other catechins that benefit in the same way are EC2, ECG, and EGC. All these antioxidants are effective in preventing cancer, heart disease, and lowering blood pressure.

Statistics and studies in China and Japan show that there is a definite reduced risk of cancer in those who drink green tea. This is the reason that Japan has the highest rate of smokers; almost 75% of men in Japan are smokers, yet at the same time there is a very low rate of lung cancer in Japan. The risk of gastric and oesophageal cancer is also significantly reduced with the consumption of green tea and its green tea antioxidant.


Green Tea is Best

You may be thinking that green tea can’t be that much different from other teas, surely black teas have the same properties as green tea. That’s where you’re wrong. Although green tea comes from the same plant as black teas, the processing of green tea leaves is significantly different from that of black teas.

Green tea is merely steamed, leaving its health properties intact, whereas black teas are fermented; the fermentation leeches away the health benefits that the original leaves might have, thus black teas lack the potency of the green tea antioxidant. Green tea is also a milder tasting tea that does not need the addition of milk, which is thought to make antioxidants in tea less effective. To think all that goodness in a cup actually tastes good without adding anything!