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Q. What Are The Health Benefits Of Green Tea?
A. Contrary to popular belief, green tea is from the same plant as normal black tea, and it does contain caffeine.
The difference is that green tea is made from only the leaf bud and the top two leaves of each branch on the bush. And while black tea is fermented, green tea is only lightly steamed, which leaves the potent antioxidant family of polyphenols in that part of the plant intact. These substances in green tea have been investigated for their cancer-protective effects [1], which have been found to be even more powerful than those in vitamins C and E.
It is believed that green tea consumption in Japan, which averages about three cups a day, is partly responsible for the low levels of cancer found in that country. If you are looking for a particularly high intake of antioxidants for cancer protection, or a remedy for a disease such as an eye disorder, you may want to take green tea supplements [2].
Take a daily dose of 300 to 400 mg and choose the ones standardized to contain 80 per cent polyphenol and 55 per cent epigallocatechin gallate.
Tea also has a blood-thinning effect, similar to that of aspirin. As it turns out, black tea also contains polyphenols and catechins, but with proportionately more caffeine along with them. Green tea contains only 20 to 30 mg of caffeine per cup, as compared to 50 mg in a regular cup of tea, and is consequently less stimulating — for many people, it’s actually relaxing. In fact, East Asian monks have traditionally used green tea to stay alert, yet calm, during meditation. So all in all, you can count green tea in moderation (meaning two cups a day) as an acceptable natural stimulant.
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References:
[1] Naghma Khan and Hasan Mukhtar. Cancer and metastasis: prevention and treatment by green tea. PMCID: PMC3142888^Back to Top^
[2] Chu KO, Chan KP, Wang CC, Chu CY, Li WY, Choy KW, Rogers MS, Pang CP. Green tea catechins and their oxidative protection in the rat eye. PMID: 20085274.^Back to Top^
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