Green Tea Health Benefits

Green tea health benefits are myriad.  Drinking green tea can help you lose weight, balance your blood sugar and has extraordinary antioxidant properties.

With all the benefits of drinking green tea, it's something to seriously consider if you're trying to lose weight and feel better.

Let's start with the biggest of the health benefits of green tea; its antioxidant effect on the body

Green Tea Health Benefits: Antioxidants

This wonderful drink is packed full of antioxidants and other health-giving properties.  And of course, antioxidants do more for your body than just lose weight, so it's an extra benefit!

What are some of the powerful antioxidants found in green tea? They include the following polyphenols, in the form of catechins:

• Gallocatechin
• Epicatechin
• Epigallocatechin
• Epicatechin gallate
• Epigallocatechin gallate (also known as EGCG).

The antioxidant properties of green tea are equivalent to eating eight apples, concludes a study done by Tufts University. I'd say that there are far fewer calories in green tea than in 8 apples, wouldn't you?

So how much green tea do you need to drink, in order to reap the benefits? As few as one cup per day showed an increase in plasma antioxidant capacity; drinking up to six cups a day raised the plasma antioxidant capacity significantly. (Reference: Cabrera C, Artacho R, Gimenez R. Beneficial effects of green tea--a review. Journal of the American College of Nutrition 2006;25(2):79-99.)

Here's something interesting, from the University of Purdue. Researchers there recently concluded that a compound found in green tea inhibits the growth of cancer cells. Seeing as cancer is a very scary disease, it's all the more reason to indulge in a cup or six a day!

In addition, there's also some research indicating that drinking green tea has an effect on cholesterol. It seems to lowers total cholesterol levels and improve the ratio of good cholesterol (HDL) to bad cholesterol (LDL).

Lose Weight

There are actually three types of tea popular for losing weight -- green, oolong (sometimes called Wu Long) and black.

Find out about these three types of tea, which is the best for losing weight, and how much you should drink.

Green Tea Kinds -- Loose or Bagged?

Most people are familiar with green tea in tea bags -- most grocery stores carry them these days.  But have you ever heard about loose leaf green tea?

Loose leaf green tea is gaining fame in the United States; discover why.

Plus, find out if loose tea or tea bags will help you lose weight better.

Even Oprah Has Heard About Green Tea!

In fact, it was an interview that Oprah had on one of her November 2004 shows that lead to green tea's rise to fame in the United States.  Check out part of Oprah's actual interview and find out about some studies that help to back up the claims!

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Can You Drink Bottled Green Tea?

Certainly you can drink bottled green tea (like Arizona or Lipton), but you won't get as many health benefits.

When bottled for sale, the green tea must have some ingredients added to preserve freshness (at the very least, ascorbic acid).  Read the list of ingredients carefully!

Bottled green tea doesn't let you choose the amount of sweetener to use -- and normally, it's way too much!

(You'd be surprised at how nice green tea tastes all by itself.)

Is bottled green tea better than a diet soda?  Yes.  Is it as good (health and weight-loss wise) as freshly brewed?  No.

Interested in more information about green tea's amazing health properties?  Here's a book you may like.