10 Significant Reasons Why Regularly Drinking Green Tea Is An Awesome Healthy Living Habit!

Tea is one of the oldest drinks (used for almost 50 centuries in Asia) and – after water – the most common beverage people enjoy the world over (Mandel et al. 2008). Native to China, it comes from the evergreen plantCamellia sinensis. A cup of tea contains numerous compounds in varying quantities: vitamins, polyphenols, caffeine, fluoride, sugars, amino acids, proteins, minerals, chlorophyll and others (Zhao et al. 2013). Which tea is produced (white, green, oolong or black) depends on the subsequent processing of harvested Camellia leaves. Teas can be classified as non-fermented (green and white teas), semi-fermented (oolong tea), and fermented (black tea).
The health promoting effects of green tea are attributed to the rich antioxidant polyphenol content of its leaves (flavonols & catechins), making up c. 30% dry weight of a tea leaf, and exhibiting biochemical and pharmacological activities (Siddiqui et al. 2006). Recently, many of these beneficial effects were traced back to the most abundant catechin, EGCG (Wolfram 2007).White tea differs from green tea by only using buds or first leaves. Green tea is rich in catechins. Black tea contains high levels of bisflavanol, theaflavin, and thearubigin, whereas white tea possesses large amounts of epigallocatechin-3-gallate or EGCG, epicatechin, and methylxanthine (Zhao et al. 2013).
And just like a good wine, geographic location, soil and growing conditions play a role in tea quality, too. Tea leaves are heated and dried to inactivate enzymes, thus preserving constituents until we come along to make a brew by simply adding hot water. 

The convenience of tea bags comes for the price of much reduced quality: tea bags usually contain shredded bits of tea hardly deserving the name. I generally avoid tea bags. Loose leaf tea just tastes so much better. As a rule of thumb, the bigger the leaf, the better and more tasty the tea. Tea bags either contain chemicals (epichlorohydrin) to prevent the paper from disintegrating in water, or are made from plastic including potentially harmful substances. Both are not the best choice. No need to ingest anything that doesn’t naturally belong in the body. Exercising that control whenever you have it makes not only sense, but also for a much healthier body.

Three billion kilograms of tea are grown and processed worldwide annually (Ohsaki Study 2006). People in about 30 countries are the main tea consumers. Green tea, specifically, is most commonly used in Asia (c. 20%), whereas Westerners prefer black tea (c. 78%).

So why go green?

Green tea is traditionally associated with various health benefits, and science, mostly since 1995, begins to confirm its beneficial effects on inflammation, arthritis, bacterial and viral growth inhibition, various cancers, eliminating toxins, the cardiovascular system, gums and teeth, the nervous system, and others. There are over 12.000 published (peer reviewed) articles on green tea. The search ‘green tea benefits’ on Web of Science returned 711 papers, a few of which form the basis of this article.

Tea variety and preparation method (at the growers and at home) also matter in bringing out the beneficial influence green tea bestows on our body (Shishikura & Khokhar 2005), as does bioavailability: we can ingest something, yet is it readily available to our cells in that form? If yes, it’s bioavailable, i.e. the body can use it straight away. If not, it may go right through without affecting anything. This is the reason why some supplements do not work – they are not presented in the right (bioavailable) form to the body. In green tea, bioavailability of catechins is directly proportional to the amount consumed (Reygaert 2014).

The following lists some of the benefits you may gain when regularly drinking green tea (multiple cups a day).

Read More : http://wakeup-world.com/2015/05/01/10-health-benefits-of-green-tea/