An ancient drink gets its day

By David Musnick MD

Green tea or camellia sinensis is a common, non-fermented tea, available in tea bags by itself or blended with other teas or spices.  It is also available as an extract in capsule form.  While containing caffeine, green tea only has about 20-40 mg per cup compared to three times that amount in coffee. Clinical trials have found that it has a number of health benefits including cancer prevention and weight loss—after thousands of years, green tea is finally getting the recognition it deserves.

What is in the tea that is good for you?
Green tea is teaming with phytochemicals called polyphenols with flavonols including epigallocatechin which is thought of being the major beneficial biochemical.

What about cancer prevention?
Studies show that regular consumption of 2-3 cups per day can decrease risk of developing certain cancers.  These include cancer of the bladder, esophagus, ovaries and breasts.  It may do this by decreasing free radical and oxidation damage to the DNA in cells.

Weight Loss
Green tea may help you lose weight by increasing fat burning, increasing calorie expenditure and suppressing appetite.

Other benefits
Research has also found that green tea appears to be a generally protective effect on the brain. Scientists believe it may decrease risk of developing dementia, Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.

How much do I drink?
The studies show that drinking 2-3 cups per day is beneficial—providing 240-320 mg of polyphenols.  One should consume more if interested in reducing cholesterol.

If you do not like to drink the tea you could consider taking green tea extract in a capsule—although, there have not been clinical studies using the extracts, so it is not known if the benefits are as good with the extract.

Are there any precautions?
The main caution with green tea is regarding its caffeine content. It is recommended that you stay under 300 mg of caffeine—about 9-10 cups—daily.  Green tea may interact with some drugs, so consult your healthcare practitioner.

Tea time!
With all of the research to back it, our old friend green tea appears to be a very healthy drink indeed.  If you are interested in preventing cancer it makes sense to drink 2-3 cups per day.  Make sure you let it brew long enough to allow the important components to get into your water.  Try and use filtered water to make it as healthy as possible.  If you do not like the flavor of green tea, consider using tea bags that are mixed with mint or with Chai type spices.  Consider green tea in a capsule if you can not drink it.  Look for a product standardized for at least 25% catechins. 

Now drink to your health and start brewing some green tea today!

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