8 Health Benefits of Green Tea

8 Health Benefits of Green Tea

Everyone knows that green tea is one of the healthiest beverages available to mankind. Not only is it a light, low-calorie drink, but the health benefits of green tea also pack quite a punch. Consumed all over the world for thousands of years, modern technology has made it possible for green tea’s benefits to be available in capsule form. Green tea extract, which is the concentrated form of the beverage we all know and love, delivers the same active ingredients found in green tea in a convenient and easily-digestible format.

More About Green Tea

Green tea is derived from the leaves and leaf buds of the Camellia sinensis plant. As far as antioxidant content and beneficial polyphenols are concerned, green tea is superior to all other types of tea. This might explain why it has always been popular in traditional Chinese and Indian medicine. These days, green tea is renowned for its positive effects on weight loss, fat burning, heart and brain health, and cancer risk. However, not all of us have the time and patience to make several cups of tea every single day. At the same time, some people are not too pleased with green tea’s natural taste. Of course, there are ways to make green tea taste better. However, they usually involve unhealthy additions like sugar, which can negatively impact the beverage’s nutritional profile. As a response to this dilemma, green tea supplements have climbed in popularity over the last couple of years.

8 Green Tea Benefits

Let’s discuss how green tea benefits the body in more detail. The following points outline green tea’s impact on your health and wellbeing. Read on to learn more!

1. It’s a potent antioxidant.

Among green tea’s many benefits, its antioxidant power is perhaps the most well-known. Green tea extract is rich in polyphenol antioxidants called catechins. Various types of catechins are found in green tea—namely, epicatechin (EC), epigallocatechin (EGC), epicatechin-3-gallate (ECG), and epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG). Among these four main types, EGCG is the most abundant and most well-researched. EGCG is also thought to be responsible for most of green tea’s health benefits. Antioxidants help fight oxidative stress as it fights cellular damage that is caused by free radicals. Free radicals are associated with many health problems, such as premature aging, oxidative DNA damage, and various diseases. A 2012 study showed that green tea supplementation increases the body’s antioxidant capacity. In doing so, consuming green tea extracts help protect the body against problems caused by oxidative stress. Moreover, green tea supplements show promise in the prevention of inflammatory disease due to its ability to increase antioxidant status in humans.

2. It promotes faster weight loss.

Green tea contains caffeine. And that, combined with catechins, helps the body burn more calories—therefore helping boost weight loss efforts. The combination of catechin-polyphenols and caffeine is quite a wonderful duo. Together, they form a synergistic pairing that promotes and prolongs thermogenesis. If you don’t know what thermogenesis is, it’s a process where your body burns calories to produce heat. Thermogenesis is a by-product of metabolic processes. Food consumption automatically leads to an obligatory increase in the body’s heat production because of the processes associated with digesting, metabolizing, absorbing, and storing nutrients. When you consume thermogenic substances like green tea, your body tends to burn more calories. A study involving the consumption of caffeine, EGCG from green tea, and guarana extract illustrated this fact. In the study, those who consumed the said substances before each meal burned an average of 179 more calories in the following 24 hours.

3. It helps burn more fat during exercise.

Studies have shown that green tea extract can help the body burn more fat, especially during exercise. This is why green tea is such a popular ingredient among fat-burning supplements. Weight loss through burning more calories is one thing. But specifically burning more calories from fat (as opposed to calories from other sources like glycogen) is another. In a study conducted by The University of Birmingham’s School of Sport and Exercise Sciences, it was found that men who took green tea extract before moderate-intensity exercise burned 17% more fat than those who took a placebo. In another study, it was shown that catechins from green tea helped increase fat burning during exercise and at rest. All that being said, taking a green tea supplement for fat burning may help you achieve your fitness goals more quickly.

4. Green tea promotes heart health.

Did you know that green tea’s antioxidant content may also contribute to better heart health? Oxidative stress induced by free radicals in the body leads to fat buildup in the blood. This then leads to inflammation in the arteries and high blood pressure. This is where the antioxidants from green tea enter the picture. Catechins prevent vascular inflammation and help reduce blood pressure. What’s more, they are capable of preventing cells from absorbing fat—therefore contributing to lower blood fat levels. A study involving 56 obese, hypertensive people showed that three months of taking green tea extract daily resulted in a significant decrease in blood pressure, triglycerides, and total and LDL cholesterol.

5. It may help lower the risk of cancer.

The antioxidants found in green tea may also contribute to lowered cancer risk. One study showed that taking a total of 600 mg of green tea catechins (GTC) per day for a year led to a decrease in the likelihood of developing cancer among men volunteers. Among the study’s placebo group, nine out of 30 men developed cancer. Meanwhile, in the GTC-treated group, only one tumor had been diagnosed. This apparent anti-cancer effect may be attributed to EGCG’s positive impact on helping balance cell production and cell death. Note that the body’s tissues and organs are maintained through a constant cycle of cell death and regrowth. It’s a delicate balance, really: new cells are constantly produced to replace cells that have died. Disruptions in that balance give way for cancer to occur. When your body produces dysfunctional cells instead of healthy, normal cells and they don’t die when they should, cancer can occur. In a nutshell, the catechins in green are shown to support cellular health. According to the linked studies, these catechins may be responsible for a decrease in cancer risk. However, more extensive research is needed to fully understand green tea’s anti-cancer properties.

6. Green tea may help lower blood sugar.

The potential benefits of green tea as an antidiabetic agent have been explored in various studies. It has been found that compounds present in green tea extract help increase insulin sensitivity. At the same time, EGCG has also been shown to help in the regulation of blood sugar. Consequently, these two effects lead to lower blood sugar levels. Another study that investigated the antidiabetic effect of green tea found that it promoted glucose metabolism in human volunteers. What’s more, green tea has been found to be useful at decreasing fasting blood sugar levels.

7. It may help improve athletic performance.

Exercise brings many benefits to the body. However, exercise also triggers oxidative stress—and this is something that may be reduced by consuming green tea. As you probably already know at this point, the antioxidants found in green tea can help fight cellular damage, which in turn increases your antioxidant protection against oxidative stress caused by exercise. On top of that, antioxidants have also been found the help delay muscle fatigue. As a result, you’re bound to perform better for longer periods of time during your workouts. A 2015 study showed that supplementing with green tea extract prevented oxidative damage in sprinters. Additionally, green tea extract consumption helped men increase their running distance as shown in another 2015 test.

8. Green tea supports brain health.

Your brain cells are bound to benefit from green tea’s antioxidant properties. Just as how catechins protect other cells from damage, they also help your brain cells fight oxidative stress. This could impact how well you resist brain diseases like Parkinson’s, dementia, and Alzheimer’s later on in life. Furthermore, a study showed that green tea can help enhance the connection between the different areas of the brain. This points to the promising effects of green tea benefits for your memory and cognitive function.

Best Green Tea Supplement Philippines

Green tea capsules are now available in the Philippines courtesy of Puritan’s Pride. Known and trusted in the US for manufacturing high-quality and reliable health supplements, Puritan’s Pride brings the benefits of green tea extract to Filipinos who are looking to elevate their health and wellbeing. To know more about Puritan’s Pride Green Tea Extract Supplement, check out this link.