So you want to know about
health benefits of green tea? Well, where shall I begin? There has been a great deal of research carried out in last few years about green tea health benefits and findings are very exciting. It is a well known fact that antioxidants are essential for a healthy body. They help to fight against free radicals. "What are they?", you may ask. Free radicals are by-products produced by oxygen in body and they can lead to immune system deficiency, heart problems and can even lead to cancer.
Green Tea contains antioxidants; it contains a lot of them. In particular it contains one very powerful antioxidant called EGCG or epigallocatechin-gallate. EGCG is one of catechins and research has found it to contain far more antioxidant properties than both vitamin E and vitamin C. The special process by which green tea is made allows much more of health giving EGCG to remain in tea.
It has also been shown in research that EGCG can actually slow growth of and kill cancer cells. In fact there have been several studies from around world which point to green teas anti-cancer properties.
Wow! It's already a great story for green tea health benefits.
But health benefits of green tea don't end there.
Green Tea also contains tannins which have a calming effect on nerves. Tannins are polyphenols and they occur in many natural substances such as fruit and chocolate. Tannins add color and flavor to tea and are particularly well known in wine circles for their appearance in red wine. It is thought a high amount of tannins is not good for body, but good news is that green tea has a much lower level of tannins than black tea.
