Tea drinking has been a way of life for more than 5000 years. There are many different myths and stories about the exact origin of the ancient brew but it is fair to say that the earliest drinkers of tea were in China. One of the more consistently quoted ancient tales tells of ruler Shen Nung who always boiled his water before drinking in order to purify it. One day, a few leaves blew into his boiling water pot from a nearby bush and that is how tea brewing first began… After drinking the tea, Shen was so impressed by its flavor and revitalizing properties that he wrote about it extensively and before long, drinking tea became ingrained in Chinese culture.1
Green tea is a little different from other teas, such as oolong or black tea, because it is unfermented.2 The plant is the same plant, Camellia Sinensis, but the level of fermentation determines the ‘type’ of tea.
Green tea has been receiving a lot of attention of the past few years because of its potentially powerful healing properties. Some say that drinking just four cups a day can give you many health benefits, that is only two Glasstic Bottles full.
The following are six health benefits from drinking green tea daily:
Metabolism
Drinking green tea before or with a meal can raise metabolic rates and speed up fat oxidation. The powerful antioxidants and caffeine in green tea actually increase your metabolic rate.3 Green tea may also help you lose weight if you incorporate it daily into your calorie controlled diet.
Digestion
You may not know it but your gastrointestinal tract is inhabited by micro-colonies of bacteria. Although many of the bacteria in your GI are beneficial to your digestive tract, other types can cause ulcers, Crohn’s disease and IBS. The tannins contained in green tea benefits the GI tract by promoting the growth of beneficial microflora and preventing the growth of intestinal pathogens.
Diabetes-Weight Loss
Drinking green tea with a meal not only tastes great but it can also help reduce the rise of blood sugar after you have eaten. This can possibly aid in diabetes or even weight control. It works by slowing down the breakdown of carbohydrates.4 Incorporating green tea into your calorie controlled diet may speed up your ability to lose unwanted pounds!
Anti-cancer
Chemicals in green tea, known as polyphenols, have been shown in a number of studies to reduce two proteins that are responsible for promoting the growth and migration of cancer cells. This means that drinking green tea can prevent certain types of cancer and may even help destroy cancer cells.5
Healthy Bones
Drinking green tea can help reduce the risk of osteoporosis and other diseases that lead to bone loss because of its ability to stimulate bone growth and mineralization. As well as inhibiting the breakdown of bone structure, green tea also boosts the activity of bone building enzymes which increase bone building significantly.6
Anti-Aging
The antioxidant properties of green tea make it a perfect brew for anti-aging purposes. The antioxidant activity of epigallocatechin gallate, or EGCG, an antioxidant compound in green tea, and its ability to increase production of stress-reducing proteins may account for the observed longevity benefits per a study by Campbell University.7
Drink Green Tea and Stay Healthy with Glasstic!
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1. Benn, James A. Tea in China: A Religious and Cultural History. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2015
2. http://www.tenren.com/ferumentation.html
3. http://www.webmd.com/diet/19991128/green-tea-boosts-metabolism-protects-against-diseases
4. http://www.nutraingredients-usa.com/Research/Green-tea-and-grape-seed-extracts-may-control-starch-digestion
5. Green Tea and Cancer Prevention, Chung S. Yang , Xin Wang; Nutrition and Cancer
Vol. 62, Iss. 7, 2010
6. “Effects of Tea Catechins, Epigallocatechin, Gallocatechin, and Gallocatechin Gallate, on Bone Metabolism.”, Chun Hay Ko, Kit Man Lau, Wing Yee Choy and Ping Chung Leung.
J. Agric. Food Chem, 2009, 57 (16), pp 7293-7297.
7. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19061950
