Routes To Self Improvement

Issue 22

The Health Benefits Of Green Tea

I can recall reading of the benefits of green tea back in the 1980's, when I first took an interest in health and diet. Or was it the early 1990's? I don't know, but that does not matter. The fact it, I had read some research which has stuck in my mind ever since.

I lived in England then, and the local stores were not exactly stacked to the brim with healthy green tea. In fact, it was nowhere to be seen. Typically of the Western world, we had taken a healthy drink and, by processing in one way or another, stripped it of much of its goodness. There was a lot of tea in the stores of course; are not the English a nation of tea drinkers. I was, but because of the lack of green tea in the shops, even the health store, I never did anything about it then.

In the year 200 I moved to South East Asia, the Philippines to be precise, and I soon spotted green tea in the Cebu mall, but not a lot. However, I did start to drink green tea every day instead of the highly processed brown/black tea. Now that I live in Palawan, where the local department store is usually well stocked with green tea, I have my daily dose without fail, and never buy the rival stripped-bare-of-all-its-goodness tea. Anyway, it tastes good, pure and without lemon or sugar.

Rather than go into all the old research again myself, I have given myself time to go off for a green tea break, and have included an article from the Home Made Medicine Newsletter, by Charles Silverman N.D.

Do you drink Green Tea? Then you should read the information below.

Lately, green tea has been getting a lot of attention, recent reports and scientific studies found that green tea has the ability to reduce greatly the risk of many cancers and in some cases it has shown signs of reducing tumors. However, green tea has been around for thousands of years. In China and Japan it is used as a tonic that keeps the body in optimum conditions.

This is our topic for this issue of the Home Made Medicine Newsletter, we will dive into the secrets and properties and we will study green tea, to expose all of its properties. We will answer questions like what makes some teas cure illnesses, and what is the difference between a regular black tea and this wonderful green healing concoction.

Chances are you have already tasted green tea, it is a common treat in most Asian restaurants. What you probably did not realize is that you were drinking a powerful healing remedy. Green tea has been used for more than 4,000 years for medicinal purposes. Only recently, scientists are paying attention to this marvelous plant, as we mentioned above green tea can prevent cancer, but that is not all. Other researches have shown that green tea bolsters the heart’s resistance to cardiovascular diseases, increases longevity, detoxifies the body and boosts the immune system.

TIP: Green tea also prevents cavities.

Why does green tea have all these properties and black tea doesn’t?

Although green and black tea come from the same plant, it is the processing that sets them apart. Tea leaves contain an enzyme that causes the leaves to oxidate after picking. By steaming and heating the leaves, processors are able to stop the oxidation process. Black tea it is let to oxidate and it is submitted to several more possessing steps which causes it to turn dark brown, and sometimes red.

Unfortunately, this manipulation of the plant reduces and destroys compounds called polyphenols, present in the freshly picked leaves. These compounds are the secret healing weapon contained in the green tea leaves, because it is processed as little as possible, green tea retains all its polyphenols. Out of all the types of teas, green tea contain the highest levels of polyphenols.

What are polyphenols, and what do they do?

Polyphenols are a group of natural phytochemicals (plant chemicals). These phytochemicals are potent antioxidants, antioxidants are the substances that protect the body from free radicals, and free radicals are the reactive molecules that damage the body at the cellular level, causing cancer, heart disease and many other horrible diseases. (To learn more about antioxidants and free radicals read the article titled Antioxidants in our website).

There are primarily four types of antioxidants in green tea that stand out, which give it the properties that green tea is famous for. Many other nutrients can be found in green tea, vitamin C tops the list, containing ten times more than black tea. Also found in different levels are, vitamin B2, vitamin D, vitamin K and carotenoids (beta-carotine).

The wrong information, gives bad reputation.

Many years ago, there were concerns raised, which made people believe that drinking tea in general might interfere with the body’s absorption and use of iron, which in turns causes anemia. Further research has determined that tea does not increase the risk of iron-deficiency anemia.

Another concern that was raised was the seemingly high level of mineral aluminum some times found in tea, aluminum causes bone and brain disorders. Again further research, shows that the type of aluminum found in tea does not react in any harmful way in the body.

As far as we know, for thousands of years tea has been used without any adverse reaction or downside.

Green Tea and Cancer Prevention

As mentioned before, green tea has a 4,000 year old reputation of health enhancing beverage, although this reputation has been dismissed in the past, modern epidemiologists have paid close attention the this plant, and they have found proof that many diseases are prevented by drinking green tea.

One of the researches was done on a region of Japan called Shizuoka, they concentrated in the area, because statistics showed that citizens of this city had a way below average rate of death from cancer, both men and women. A deeper study showed that in this tea growing region, its citizens drank more cups of green tea than the average Japanese citizens.

After this study, dozens more have taken place, some in Europe and some in the United States and the results only fortify early conclusion. Green tea reduces de risks of cancer.

I hope you like this article, please feel free to forward it to all your friends and family members it may save their lives.

Charles Silverman N.D. Is the author of ¨The Homemade Medicine e-book First Edition¨ and owner of http://www.homemademedicine.com: info@homemademedicine.com

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