Green Tea Comes With Many Health Benefits
Top ten benefits from green tea
- Contains plant-based antioxidant compounds known as catechins that help to prevent cell damage.
- Green tea can improve cognitive function with its ingredients that combine to improve brain function and cognitive health. It appears that green tea also has links with a lower chance of cognitive impairment in middle and older age.
- Green tea may increase metabolic rate and increase fat burning in the short term especially when paired with exercise.
- Another benefit of drinking green tea is to help improve dental health and reduce bad breath.
- The bioactive compounds in green tea may support brain health. with it being linked with less likelihood of neurodegenerative disease.
- There is encouraging evidence that green tea could help improve our oral health.
- While the research is mixed on the role green tea may play in lowering the risk of type 2 diabetes, or helping with the overall management of type 2 diabetes, it certainly will not cause any harm and well worth trying.
- Green tea could help lower some markers of heart disease with studies showing that those who drink green tea have a lower chance of heart disease.
- May help you lose weight with some studies showing that green tea may lead to increased weight loss and lower fat accumulation in the abdominal area - especially in women.
- With all the healthier benefits of drinking green tea set out above, this habit might help you to live longer.
How to make and drink green tea?
- Heat water to between 170 and 176 °F (77 and 80 °C).
- Place 1 teaspoon (2 g) of loose-leaf green tea into a small teapot OR a heat-proof pitcher with three to five green teabags.
- Pour 3⁄4 cup (180 ml) of the hot water over the leaves OR pour four cups of hot water over the teabags.
- Steep the green tea for one to two minutes.
- Strain the leaves or remove the teabags and add a little sugar if desired.
If the water wasn't too hot, and if you didn't over steep you should be greeted with an almost sweet smell from your cup, definitely grassy and fresh-tasting even if the tea is hot.
Steeping the tea for a second time will help to remove any bitterness almost completely but will also dull the flavor a bit.
What does green tea taste like?
With its distinctive green and grassy taste, it could remind someone drinking green tea for the first time of grapes, zucchini or even seaweed with a hint of earthiness!
There is also tannin in green tea which some might find makes the taste bitter.
While we are more used to teas that have a sweet tinge or a fruity or floral aroma, green tea has its very own taste.
If you are keen to start including green tea in your diet but are not happy with its taste, then an alternative is to take green tea supplements available online or from your local health store.
Green tea extract is its concentrated form, with just one capsule containing the same amount of active ingredients as an average cup of green tea.
A word of warning to always take green tea supplements with food and not to exceed the recommended dose.
SOURCES:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0956566324000599
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27634207/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0944711323005664
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30813433/
Written by Jane Chitty
Jane writes for Healing Natural Oils, a producer and retailer of high-quality, all-natural treatments for a variety of conditions as well as a range of beauty products. Apart from writing about those various conditions, she also covers general health, environmental and other subjects of interest. She has lived in Kenya as well as Cape Town, South Africa and spent time in San Diego, USA. She now lives in Somerset, England with regular visits from her far-flung children and grandchildren. She is a keen gardener and enjoys growing fresh fruit and vegetables with her husband on their joint allotment. As a result, there is something available to use in the kitchen virtually all year round. Her regular posts can be found on our blog.