Health Benefits of Green Tea
Recently I wrote about Oolong tea and weight loss where I compared Oolong tea to a normal green tea. Now it is time to talk about health benefits of green tea in more details.
So why green tea is so healthy?
Green tea is rich in catechin polyphenols, particularly epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG). EGCG is very powerful anti-oxidant: besides inhibiting the growth of cancer cells, it kills cancer cells without harming healthy tissue. Nowadays, the problem of cancer is very serious and we should not ignore it. So why not to drink a cup of green tea every morning?
It is also very effective in lowering LDL cholesterol levels, and inhibiting the abnormal formation of blood clots (it is called thrombosis and it is the leading cause of heart attacks and stroke). By the way, the rate of heart disease among Japanese men is very low in comparison to Europeans, even though approximately seventy-five percent of them are smokers.
People often ask why don’t other Chinese teas have similar healthy properties?All of them come from the leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant.But green tea is processed in another way:leaves are steamed, which prevents the EGCG compound from being oxidized. All other teas are made from fermented leaves, which results in the EGCG being converted into other compounds that are far less effective in preventing cancer and other diseases.
