10 Benefits of Green Tea You Should Know About
Why don’t you switch that morning cup of coffee with a nice cup of green tea? Why you may ask, well, it’s fairly simple. Green tea is a superfood!
Green tea has been around for centuries. Originating from China, it quickly gained popularity as its many benefits were discovered by the rest of the world.
Green tea is made from unoxidized Camellia sinensis leaves and is one of the least processed types of tea. This is why it contains the most antioxidants.
Those that already take this beverage, already know of its many benefits. For those who are new, allow me to enlighten you about the numerous benefits of green tea, you’ll surely be a regular consumer of this tea by the time you’re through reading this!
The 10 Benefits of Green Tea
Here, we shall discuss the major and scientifically proven benefits of regular green tea consumption.
1. Green Tea Is Useful for Weight Loss
One of the most efficient and healthy ways to speed up your metabolism is through the consumption of green tea. When your metabolism is high, you break down calories from foods quite quickly. When the body burns calories fast, it inhibits weight gain.
Green tea helps in bumping up the speed at which food is broken and absorbed by the body. The more fat the body burns, the better the circulation of blood due to the reduced cholesterol levels. Enjoy a cup of tea and relish the fact that the pesky excess fat is being put to good use!
2. It Helps with A Healthy Heart
One of the many benefits of green tea consumption is that it improves cardiovascular conditions. Through a high amount of consumption of some foods, one develops fatty deposits in the blood vessels, this is called cholesterol. This cholesterol is a waxy type of fat that tends to restrict blood flow in the system. When there is too much of this cholesterol, it builds upon the walls of the arteries thereby making it narrow and reducing blood flow to the heart; this is what causes coronary heart disease.
Green tea helps in reducing these cholesterol levels that play a part in several heart diseases. Consumption of green tea reduces the amount of LDL( low-density lipoprotein) which is sometimes called bad cholesterol.
Give your heart a fighting chance. Go get that green tea
3. Green Tea Aids in The Prevention of Cancer
Another major benefit of green tea is that it contains some elements called flavonoids. These metabolites fight and to some extent kill off cancerous cells in the body.
Research has been conducted in countries where green tea consumption is high. In this research, it was discovered that some cancer rates tend to be lower in such countries.
Furthermore, the research showed some evidence of the benefits of green tea consumption for lowering the risk of cancerous cell generation within the body.
Some of the cancers green tea impacts positively include:
Lung cancer
Prostate cancer
Skin cancer
Colon cancer
Ovarian cancer
Bladder cancer
Oesophagal cancer
Green tea has a lot of antioxidants majorly because it is unprocessed and unoxidized. Here’s a pro tip; avoid adding milk to your green tea as studies show that milk reduces the antioxidants properties.
4. It Has Healthy Skin and Anti-Aging Properties
For those that are extra enthusiastic about skincare routines, this is great news. Green tea is a tasty and cheap way of maintaining that youthful and fresh look without having to rely heavily on expensive cosmetics.
The primary agent responsible for this is polyphenol. This agent found in green tea has been shown to slow and to some extent reverse skin ageing and repair skin damage. The ultraviolet rays that we expose ourselves to daily hurt the overall health of our skin.
The carcinogenic activity of the ultraviolet radiation from the sun and other man-made sources causes what is known as photoaging. Photoaging refers to those pesky wrinkles and spots that appear on our skin as we grow older.
A regular cup of healthy green tea is what you need to help you maintain a youthful and exuberant look.
5. Green Tea Improves Brain Activity and Improves Mood
Another great benefit of green tea consumption is that it helps boost brain function and improves mood. A lot of tea drinkers look to their cups whenever they feel distressed and need a little ‘pick-me-up’. This isn’t just because of purely sentimental reasons. There is a genuinely scientific and logical reason behind that. One of the main components thought to be responsible for this is the caffeine content found in green tea.
Green tea goes as far as improving brain activity by increasing alertness, improving memory retention and even reducing anxiety. I’m sure now you really want to add green tea to that shopping list if you aren’t a fan already.
6. Green tea Helps to Repair Cell Damage
The DNA in the body’s cells are destroyed by what are known as free radicals. Free radicals are basically oxygen-containing molecules that are naturally produced by the body as a byproduct of metabolism. These molecules are highly unstable and cause damage to the cells of the body.
Green tea contains micronutrients called polyphenols, which are antioxidants that help the body to eliminate these free radicals swimming in your system.
7. Green Tea Fights Against Diabetes
The Benefits of green tea just keep getting better and better, don’t they?
You’ve learned how green tea fights cancerous cells and cholesterol levels, now, you’ll learn how it fights against diabetes.
Diabetes is a disease associated with high blood sugar levels. High blood sugar levels may result in damage to several precious organs including the kidney.
Green tea helps to control and lower the blood sugar level of the body through polysaccharides and thermogenic properties consequently controlling and preventing type II diabetes in adults.
8. Green Tea Helps Maintain Healthy Kidneys
Frequent consumption of green tea has been proven to be beneficial to the overall health of the Kidneys in several ways.
It protects the kidney from oxidative reactions of the free radicals in the body
Green tea improves blood supply to the kidney
It neutralizes the toxicity of heavy metals in the kidney
9. One of The Benefits of Green Teas Is That It Improves Liver Health
Another great benefit of this amazing tea is that it improves liver health.
The antioxidants in green tea help the liver to function effectively in the eradication of toxins from the body.
Catechins found in green tea react with and neutralize the harmful effects of heavy metals freeing the liver from their adverse effects.
10. It Helps Get Rid of Bad Breath
Let’s face it, nobody likes bad breath.
If you’re suffering from it or know someone who is, you’ll find this benefit of green tea especially interesting.
Green tea contains antimicrobial agents acting against bacteria and other microorganisms that cause bad breath. Catechins in green tea inhibit the growth of streptococcus mutans which is a common bacterium that causes mouth bad breath.
Conclusion
For the movie lovers, the avid readers of fiction, you all must have heard of the fictional substance called the elixir of life said to give eternal life and cure all diseases. That sounds amazing, doesn’t it? Well, it is not far-fetched to think of green tea as an elixir of life. While it does not give immortality, it does help in preventing and fighting a lot of diseases and generally improving the quality of one’s health.
Try adding green tea to your daily diet, you will be delightfully surprised by the positive effects and changes you’ll notice to your overall health.
