An old Chinese tradition that has quickly traveled across the world to reach all of us, green tea a suddenly popular beverage if not always for its taste, it is for all the benefits of it.
As it turns out green tea, despite the different look and taste, is not all that far from regular black tea, the two come from the leaves of the very same camellia sinensis bush.
So why does green tea have all of those famous benefits and black tea doesn’t?
The very simple answer would be, the way of processing, processing black tea goes through a number of steps including fermentation, a process during which the leaves lose many of the useful elements having them converted into something else.
But with green tea that process is different, the leaves are steamed instead of fermented allowing them to retain most of the useful substances, particularly a chemical called polyphenol.
Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), considered the most effective and beneficial polyphenol found in green tea.
Most of the anti-oxidant and anti-cancerous powers of green tea is basically related to the useful polyphenols retained in it.
And here is a brief look at some of the uses of green tea:
Green Tea for Cancer:
Green tea is believed to reduce the risk of cancer, and to have the ability to eliminate cancer cells.
Studies have shown that users of green tea have lower risks of developing ovarian, stomach and pancreatic ulcer.
Green Tea for Diabetes:
Green tea is found to reduce the rising of blood sugar after meals and adjust sugar levels as well.
Green Tea for Heart Conditions:
It’s found to decrease the risk of clotting, leading to a decrease in the risks of strokes and heart attacks, it also lowers blood pressure.
Green Tea for Teeth:
The anti-oxidants found in green tea are thought to eliminate the bacteria responsible for tooth decay, dental carries and other conditions.
Green Tea in Weight Loss:
Most popular of all uses, as it’s thought to increase the rate of metabolism, however, it promotes only a small amount of weight loss.
Other uses of green tea is that it’s found to increase mental alertness, useful for stress, reduces the rate of deterioration in Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases and also used as an anti-inflammatory.