The health benefits of green tea in your diet

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by jharmon

Created on: February 12, 2010

Antioxidant: Green Tea is loaded with epigallocatechin gallate, a catechin, which in layman's terms means it's a great natural antioxidant. Antioxidant help to keep the blood clean, thus reducing the chances of cancer and heart disease.

Antibiotic: Yes, green tea is also good for helping to destroy and/or fight harmful bacteria in the body, mainly because of the epigallocatechin gallate mentioned above. Does this mean green tea can combat the common cold? Yep, it does.

Weight loss: Some studies have shown that green tea raises the metabolism slightly, thus aiding the body in burning fat and muscles in growing.

Lower blood sugar: Polyphenols and polysaccharides found in green tea help the body to lower blood sugar levels, which can be helpful to diabetics.

Energy: Green tea boosts natural energy levels, putting a little extra pep in you step. How is this? Simple. Caffeine. Yes, even green tea has a little caffeine in it. Some drink green tea because they believe it to be free of caffeine, but it's not true. However, there are some decaffeinated green teas on the market. Still, green tea does have less caffeine than coffee and many other teas.

Cholesterol: In numerous studies, green tea has been shown to lower levels of LDL, "bad" cholesterol, while raising levels of HDL, "good" cholesterol. This is good for the heart and the body.

Tooth decay: Green tea helps to fight tooth decay and tooth rot. It won't necessarily prevent the disease of tooth decay, but it can help to keep your teeth clean, thus lowering the chances of tooth decay. And even if on suffers from tooth decay, green tea can still help the disease from worsening.

Arthritis: Several studies have shown that drinking green tea helps to lessen the aches and pains of arthritis.

Warts: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved wart-removing ointments that contain the catechin found in green tea. While using straight green tea might not do much good for warts, there are green tea ointments on the market that are helpful in removing warts, including genital warts.

Hangovers: That's right, if you had one too many the night before, give green tea a try. If nothing else, the caffeine should wake you up a little, but also the antioxidant effects can help to refresh the body.