Polyphenols in Green Tea Health Benefits
Polyphenols are compounds found in nature with many health benefits including in green tea. More specifically the health benefits are found in plants and provide coloring for some. The health benefits of green tea’s purpose appear to be a potent, natural antioxidant. There are many plants that we consume that contain polyphenols like the health benefits of green tea. Concentrations are high in Olive oil and the benefits of Green Tea and have been the subject of many health articles and promoted to enhance your health with the benefits of green tea.
These antioxidants eliminate free radicals adding to the benefits of green tea, unstable molecules that are the major cause of both aging and disease, in both plants and humans. Free radicals continually attack the body. Free radicals are a normal product of metabolism and result in a process called oxidation. Polyphenols and other antioxidants, including beta carotene (a vitamin A precursor), vitamin C, vitamin E, and selenium, scavenge these free radicals and help to prevent formation of unstable oxygen molecules, known as oxidation, a health benefit of green tea.
Oxidation can damage healthy cells in the body and have been linked to many diseases including cancer, heart disease and stroke which the benefits of green tea prevents. Polyphenols not only work to prevent diseases but may also help to reduce abnormal cells and inflammation, get rid of cancer causing agents and restore cells back to normal health due to the health benefits of green tea.
There are many but there are only a few, which contain particularly high levels with the many benefits of green tea. They include red wine, olive oil, black and green tea. Green Tea health benefits is the #1 source of polyphenols. The health benefits of green tea have extremely high levels of polyphenols deliver green tea’s unique results in several ways. Just one example is a subgroup of polyphenols, exclusive to green tea health benefits, called catechins. EGCG, the most abundant and powerful of the health benefits of green tea’s 5 main catechins, is dubbed the ’super antioxidant’ because it is 200 times more powerful than the popular antioxidant vitamin E. Unfortunately, health benefits of green tea in polyphenols have a quick life span (short half life) of about 3 hours, thus the scientific reason behind researchers’ recommendation to drink green tea a minimum of 8 times a day.
Not only may green tea protect and heal the body from disease but also clinical trials, conducted by the University of Geneva, in Switzerland, indicate that health benefits of green tea raises metabolic rates and speed up fat oxidation. In addition to caffeine, green tea’s catechin polyphenols raise thermogenesis (the rate at which calories are burned) and hence increases energy expenditure. And, research at the University of Chicago has shown green tea extract injections in rats to cause appetite suppression. They consumed 60 percent less food and lost 21 percent of their body weight. However, as explained by the scientists, a person would have to drink health benefits of green tea almost constantly to obtain these results. Green tea patches have been developed as a solution. They contain up to 300mg of polyphenols (30 times the potency of regular green tea) and provide a constant supply over 48 hours.
Research is still continuing with health benefits of green tea and more health benefits continue to be discovered. For instance, EGCG’s may one day play a role in treatment of mad cow disease (Nature Structural and Molecular Biology, DOI:10.1038/nsmb743). And the formation of unstable oxygen molecules in the body is unavoidable. Aging, smoke, and environmental pollutants are all sources of the damaging free radicals. Japan and China have benefited from drinking green tea vs. black tea, like the rest of us, for centuries. The west is just now catching on to the benefits of green tea. With green tea being no more harmful than a cup of coffee (and actually containing less caffeine) there’s no reason why you shouldn’t begin today to benefit from health benefits of green tea too.
More information on the benefits of green tea can be found at http://www.natural-weight-loss-programs.com/greentea.htm
