Green Tea - Natures Elixir You may have heard of common black tea's less popular little brother green tea but are you aware that in Japan, the green variety is more common than black?The green variety, along with being a light, more refreshing alternative to black tea, has some amazing health properties that could benefit people suffering from all types of ailments, including obesity and cardiovascular disease.
The green variety of tea is essentially the same plant as black tea, but instead of fermenting it for long periods of time it is dried and utilized fresh.
This process preserves the numerous health qualities of this natural wonder.
What can Green Tea do for your health? This tea has been found to contain a high level of substances that are not found in black tea.
Substances like polyphenols and other antioxidants.
Green tea has been consumed all across Asia for hundreds of years, and has a well developed reputation as a medicinal substance that increases general vitality and brain function.
Only today after the rapid development of the technologies required for analyzing food have we been able to find out why this tea has such amazing properties.
People who drink this tea on average suffer less disease than people who don't.
Interestingly enough, a study conducted in Japan found that drinkers of 5 cups of this tea per day had a 16% lower risk of all cause mortality and a 26% less risk of cardiovascular disease.
It is thought that the many antioxidants in green tea augment blood vessel health and protect them from atherosclerotic buildup, compounded by the well documented anticoagulant effect of green tea.
Green tea even exhibits a significant anti-arthritic effect in mice.
Along with the above effects, another interesting attribute of green tea that may explain its positive effects on cardiovascular health is the fact that it decreases the amount of LDL, or bad cholesterol in the blood.
As research continues on the numerous effects this tea has on the body, there is sure to be many more amazing discoveries of its health augmenting potential.
Can Green Tea help you lose weight? Along with the many health effects exhibited by this tea, there is also another interesting phenomenon that has been found in green tea consumers.
They are less likely to be obese!It was once thought that the caffeine in green tea was the key factor that encourages fat breakdown when consuming green tea, but as more research is done it has been found that there are other substances in this tea that have a powerful fat burning effect when consumed regularly.
These substances work by encouraging the body to utilize fat for energy as opposed to just sugars from the diet.
When the body utilizes more fat for energy, you can guess that it leads to decreases in weight and obesity.
This may be one of the more exciting attributes of the green variety of tea.
Something as simple as consuming a few glasses of this tea per day will not only lower your risk for heart disease, but may even help you lose weight!Even a guest on Oprah, Dr.
Nicholas Perricone, an anti-aging specialist told Oprah's viewers that they can lose ten pounds in six weeks just by drinking the green variety of tea instead of coffee! Conclusion In this atmosphere of toxicities everywhere we turn, from the smog on the way to work to polluted water, we need to turn to more natural substances for answers to our society's numerous health problems.
Green tea may potentially be one of our most powerful allies in the war against disease.
Do not take my word for it, get out there and prepare yourself a hot cup of green tea today and feel the difference.