Benefits of drinking green tea

Every once in a while something comes along that in the realm of weight loss that seems good to be true. The following research studies involving the benefits of drinking green tea may indicate some positive results. A study involving men and women in Netherlands and in Japan indicated that drinking green tea lowered “bad” cholesterol and had been shown to also lower obesity.

Over the years, experts have tried to validate the benefits of green tea and its involvement in the issue of weight loss. It has also been connected with positive results in fighting cancer and heart disease as well as preventing diabetes and stroke. Whether these are connected with the merits of losing weight, remains to be seen. The fact that green tea has large amounts antioxidants, in and of itself helps in the maintaining of good health.

Green Tea’s Powerful Antioxidants

Antioxidants have long been touted as beneficial to overall health. The antioxidants in green tea, act as catechins that spend their time looking around the body for free radicals that can damage our DNA. Damaged DNA will cause cell damage and poor cell regeneration. These damaged cells contribute to the development of health problems like blood clots, cancer, or diabetes.

In recent studies, green tea has been shown to enhance the body’s ability to stabilize blood sugar levels. Common knowledge states that it is the body’s inability to produce sufficient insulin that is the root cause of diabetes. Anything that can stabilize blood sugar levels on a regular basis can be said to be beneficial to the prevention of diabetes.

Just how much green tea a person would have to drink for its antioxidant properties to benefit human health, is not readily known. Metabolism is different in each individual. That, together with other variances such as height, weight, activity level, health issues, drinking and smoking habits and other inconsistencies, would greatly depict how much green tea a person would have to consume before any measurable result would occur.

Green Tea vs. Cancer

Most green tea is withered and steamed. This minimal processing, allows for more concentrated epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG). The condensed EGCG gathered from this process is what many researchers have theorized causes the health benefits in green tea. The processing of other teas, such as black tea, is usually fermented. The fermentation process prevents any natural antioxidants present in the original tea leaves from surviving this process. EGCG is not readily available in the body and is not always completely used. Therefore the more potent it is in the tea, the better the body can make use of it.