Originally from China, green tea has gained popularity in the western world in the past few years. This tea, made entirely from the leaves of Camellia sinensis, is said to have many medicinal properties. This is one of the major reasons for its popularity. Various varieties of
green tea are available depending upon the conditions in which it is grown, the processing that the tea leaves are subjected to etc. Within China itself, over five varieties of green tea are grown.
Health Benefits offered by Green Tea
Many people have attributed a large number of benefits to green tea, but most of them have not been confirmed scientifically. However, many experts agree, that
green tea indeed has some medicinal properties. Some of them are as follows:
-
Prevention of some neurological diseases like Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease etc.
- Treatment of cancer. Also, prevention of the same.
- Free radicals generated during the oxidation process do not spread due to the properties of green tea and thus, prevent the degeneration of cell membranes.
- It increases the production HDL cholesterol and reduces triglyceride levels. Thus, the ill effects of LDL cholesterol are nullified.
- Oxidation of fats increases the level of metabolism in the body.
- Some of the researchers have also claimed that green tea helps in burning some amount of calories from our body.
On the other hand, green tea contains an excess amount of caffeine than the other varieties. Thus, excess consumption of the same may lead to insomnia and other such disorders.
What is Green Tea made of?
You may often wonder, what makes
green tea so different from others? The answer lies in the high concentration of polyphenols that it contains. These chemicals are potent antioxidants, which provide a number of benefits to our body. It is from these compounds, that green tea gets its characteristic bitter taste.
Epigalocatechin gallate or ECGG is among the antioxidants present in
green tea. Some of the researchers have indicated that it helps in killing of the cancerous cells that may be present in the body and also, it causes no harm to the other cells that are present in the tissue.
The processing that the tea leaves go through before it is marketed are such, that most of the useful ingredients present in the leaves are retained after it. Thus, green tea is more nutritious than the other varieties of tea that are available from the same plant.
Green Tea Products available in the market
Commonly, green tea is available in the form of dried leaves. These can be consumed in the normal way like the other tea varieties. Apart from this, tablets or capsules that contain green tea extracts are also available in the market. Consuming them on a daily basis is said to give you a number of
herbal health benefits.
Thus, you can always enjoy the health benefits that
green tea offers, whether you like drinking tea or not. However, you should not consume excess of the same to avoid possible damage to your health.
