Green Tea: Good for You, Bad for Disease

Green tea loves you. It takes care of you and protects you. That’s what proponents of green tea have to say about the matter. Is green tea just the latest do-it-all wonder tonic to be sold out the back of a wagon to overexcited crowds expecting all sorts of wonderful cures from headaches to pneumonia to warding off the evil eye? Or does green tea truly have benefits to help cure and prevent all kinds of unsavory diseases?

While the hype may overshadow the facts, there is research to show that green tea does indeed have a lot of potential health benefits in preventative medicine and treatment. The research is ongoing, but here is the short list of potential health benefits of green tea.

Green Tea May Prevent Cancer

First, the big one. Yes green tea may have some properties that help prevent everyone’s top of the list disease. One of the potential health benefits of green tea has to do with preventing cancer. It’s not the only superfood to hint at helping keep away cancer, and obviously researchers are exploring every avenue. These claims are fairly untested. Everyone wants to cure cancer. While green tea is probably not the wonder cure for cancer, there may be some benefit in helping prevent some forms of cancer, at least when combined with other factors. So stay tuned for further information on this one.

Increase Metabolism with Green Tea

Yes, it is the never-ending battle against the bulge. This time it is green tea stepping into the ring to try and drop the pounds. The idea is that green tea increases metabolism and fat oxidation, that is, the ability of the body to use fat for fuel, and thus lose weight. This one may have some very small benefit to weight loss. It may help increase metabolism enough to burn a few extra calories, but the few studies so far show that it is far away from making a significant difference to dropping pounds. People looking here for a miracle weight loss cure had best keep watching those Billy Blanks videos.

Prevent Mental Degenerative Diseases

Alzheimers and Parkinsons are on everyone’s target list today, and it seems that they might be in green tea’s crosshairs as well. There have been a couple studies so far that show very good promise and suggest that green tea may help prevent neurodegenerative diseases, and even help maintain and treat patients who are already stricken with one of those diseases. Some studies have shown some effectiveness in fighting alzheimers disease effects.

Cardiovascular Disease

This one has more evidence on the table, and shows a lot of promise. It seems that green tea has a place in your heart that Ben & Jerry’s can only envy. In some studies, green tea drinkers have shown a statistically lower risk of death due to cardiovascular disease.

Boost Immune System with Green Tea

OK, everybody say, “Antioxidants“. Green tea has lots of everybody’s favorite free radical-fighting little wonders. Antioxidants are known to help limit cell damage due to oxidation and help in preventing everything from cancer, to neurodegenerative diseases to boosting immune system response. In other words, antioxidants are the ninja of health-boosting molecules. This is where the most testing has been done, and most of the evidence of the health benefits of green tea lie. For the antioxidant effect alone is reason enough to buddy up to the teacup.So, does green tea seem to have health benefits? Yes, green tea seems to be a very healthy drink, and be able to help boost your immune system and may help prevent certain diseases, but it also seems that this is another case where the hype may be more than the reality. Green tea, while good for you, can’t do anything on its own, and while it is probably a good idea to think of adding it to your diet, you need to have an all around healthy lifestyle to go with it.Research will march on, as it always does. And maybe someday green tea will provide us a key to a fabulous new cure to an incurable disease. In the meantime though, it still tastes great with honey.

What are some of the other health benefits of green tea? Any new research be sure to let us know.

by Michael on May 16th, 2007