Green Tea is a natural drink made from the Camellia Sinensis plant. Documentation puts the use of this drink as long as 5000 years ago in Japan, and is widely used today in many eastern countries for its health benefits. The western world has only recently discovered the wonderful properties of green tea, and partly thanks to the growing interest in natural health, has quickly grown in popularity. Green tea is actually made from the same plant as many other teas, but is fermented differently. Green tea is fermented only for a very short amount of time, as a longer fermentation period destroys the polyphenols in the tea, which are believed to be responsible for the drink's health properties. These properties benefit a wide range of physical needs, and here are the three most widely documented benefits of green tea.
The first thing that makes green tea so special is its high concentration of antioxidants. Antioxidants have the unique ability to combat free radicals and reduce the damage they cause to your body. This damage takes the form of aging symptoms, from wrinkles to low energy. This allows green tea to help slow the aging clock down, keep your skin looking youthful, and give you higher energy levels throughout the day. It has also been shown to similarly improve cognitive function when consumed regularly.
One of the leading killers of men in the Western Hemisphere is cardiovascular disease. Green tea, fortunately, has many very positive effects on cardiovascular health and can help prevent many future problems. It can help to naturally keep your cholesterol levels at healthy limits, and it has been shown to reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases such as atherosclerosis, and other illnesses which affect the arteries. Also, by giving a person more energy, it may aid in the process of getting normal exercise, which will greatly help the heart to grow stronger and reduce the risk of heart disease.
One of the more prevalent uses of green tea is in the field of weight loss. Weight loss, of course, is an industry that has grown exponentially in recent years, and studies show that green tea actually has the ability to help you lose weight by increasing your metabolism. It accomplishes this by helping your body process fat much more efficiently, increasing your fat oxidation rate. A higher metabolism burns fat and calories more quickly, allowing your body to burn as many as 78 extra calories per day. Research has indicated that a single drink of green tea can speed up your metabolism as much as 4% over the course of a 24-hour period. When green tea was used in studies on weight-loss, nearly all subjects who had ingested green tea lost much more weight than those who did not. Green tea also helps to cut your appetite, making it easier to resist those tempting snacks that do nothing put on pounds.
Adding green tea into your diet is a great way to help keep your body at it's healthiest, but there are certain individuals that should not be drinking it. Women who are pregnant or breastfeeding, as well as anyone with heart or liver problems should avoid green tea, as concentrated levels of it can have adverse effects on a weak liver or heart. Also, because of green tea's high caffeine level, anyone who already ingests a lot of caffeine during their day should also avoid green tea when drinking other highly caffeinated drinks.
by Cole Carson
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