Green Tea Benefits
There are so many small changes you can make to your diet that can improve your health. Drinking more water is one, so is switching to green tea with your meals. Green tea has many health benefits. While drinking water can help you lose weight, green tea does that by increasing fluid so you’re less hungry, but also with the catechins it contains. You can even improve its benefits by adding lemon. It works in synergy with the phytonutrients in green tea, boosting the bioavailability of catechins by 400%.
What are catechins?
Catechins are antioxidants. Antioxidants protect cells from oxidation that causes cell damage and death. Oxidation can lead to cancer, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease. It contributes to the aging process. Catechins help regulate the gut microbiome. The balance of your gut microbiome affects your ability to lose weight and many other bodily processes. A blind study compared people who were given green tea extract to those given a placebo. It found it increased the green tea group’s metabolism by up to 17%.
You’ll get a cognitive boost from drinking green tea.
Green tea contains caffeine, just like coffee, which boosts mental alertness and energy. Unlike coffee, green tea contains L-theanine, a neurotransmitter. It is calming and helps prevent the jitters that caffeine often triggers. Studies show that drinking green tea regularly can help prevent cognitive issues from aging. The L-theanine increases the production of GABA, another neurotransmitter with an anti-anxiety effect.
You’ll protect your gums by drinking green tea.
Studies show green tea may help with oral health. They suppress inflammation and prevent bacteria from producing the substance that causes gum disease. Research shows the polyphenols in green tea do this. Chemists even extracted them and made mouthwashes that reduce mouth and gum bacteria and damage. Preventing the germs also lowers the potential for bad breath and cavities. Other studies show drinking green tea reduces the risk of oral cancer.
- You can reduce the risk of Parkinson’s disease by drinking green tea. Studies show that drinking as little as three cups a day reduces the risk of Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and dementia.
- You can improve control of your blood sugar and reduce the risk of insulin resistance by drinking green tea. Insulin resistance is a precursor to type 2 diabetes.
- All types of tea have similar health properties to green tea. The difference is that green tea has more. The only tea from the camellia sinensis plant offering more benefits is matcha tea. It’s grown differently, processed quickly, and ground into a powder.
- Green tea may improve longevity. To maintain the most benefits, don’t use sugar, honey, or other sweetener in the tea. These can cause inflammation.
For more information, contact us today at Thrive Fitness!