HEALTH BENEFITS OF GREEN TEA
A drink that has enjoyed widespread consumption among the Chinese for more than 4,000 years, a brew that possesses health-giving properties of an unprecedented nature, and more importantly, a natural formulation that has captured the interest of modern biomedical researchers owing to its multifarious medicinal properties –yes, we are talking about green tea.
The beneficial effects of green tea on health are so numerous and diverse that a comprehensive description of them is likely to run into dozens of pages. But here is that single most significant fact which will encourage you to drink the extra cup of the brew: prolonged consumption of green tea has been linked to greatly reduced risks of developing many forms of cancer, including cancer of the esophagus, stomach and the bladder.
Research has shown that certain chemical compounds found in green tea have the ability to destroy cancer cells without adversely affecting normal cells. Thus, chemical compounds found in green tea can act as “chemopreventives”, i.e. agents that can prevent cancer development.
Of profound relevance to its health giving properties is its beneficial effects on the heart. Drinking green tea on a regular basis protects the heart against a range of medical conditions including heart attacks and strokes.
The ability of certain green tea constituents to reduce the levels of bad cholesterol, dubbed “LDL”, in the blood, along with its inhibitory effects on abnormal blood clot formation within our blood vessels, might be primarily responsible for its beneficial effects on the cardiovascular system. Green tea might also protect the heart through its ability to control high blood pressure.
Many Health Benefits from Green Tea
Apart from conferring such major health benefits on the drinker, a range of other medicinal properties have been attributed to green tea. These include its ability to prevent dental plaques, its cleansing effects on the liver to remove accumulated toxins, its anti-viral and immune stimulatory activities, etc… to name but a few. A cup of green tea can bring immediate relief to one suffering from excessive fatigue and exertion.
Because of the drink’s almost magical health promoting effects, it has come under the intense scrutiny of modern biomedical researchers and even clinicians. Concluding from the available scientific information, it is believed that, out of the thousands of chemical constituents comprising green tea, the magic resides in a group of related compounds, termed catechins.
Among the catechins found in green tea, the molecule called Epigallocatechin Gallate or EGCG can single-handedly exert almost all of the drink’s positive health effects. EGCG is a powerful anti-oxidant that can effectively quench harmful chemical species that are constantly being produced in our body as by-products of normal biochemical reactions. The biological activities mediated by this molecule are thought to underlie most of the beneficial effects of green tea.
Given the enormous advantages of green tea consumption and it status as a health drink with medicinal properties, does one require additional incentives to fall in love with this wonderful brew?
