Tea has been around for many centuries, and has been admired for its medicinal qualities as well as being a tasty beverage. The good news is that it doesn’t matter why you drink it, you will enjoy all of the green tea benefits. While Eastern medicine has long understood just how amazing tea is, it has only been recently that Western researchers have started to look into it.
Various studies have been conducted around the world, and while more research still needs to be done, it appears that some of the benefits of green tea include the following:
1. Losing weight: Green tea does a few things to help you lose weight. It helps burn fat, speeds up metabolism, and helps you to feel fuller. All of these things combine to make tea a powerful ally whenever you are trying to lose weight.
2. Blood sugar regulation: It seems that green tea changes the way the body absorbs sugar. There is also some evidence to suggest that it helps with insulin production as well, and that’s good news for people suffering from Type I diabetes.
3. Cholesterol: Green tea works in the intestinal tract to lower how much cholesterol the body absorbs. Based on current understanding, having too much cholesterol is a risk factor for developing heart disease. That means that another of the possible green tea benefits is improved heart health.
4. Antioxidants: Green tea is loaded with antioxidants. Antioxidants attack free radicals in the body, which have been shown to cause all sorts of health problems. To put it in simple terms, green tea can improve your overall health.
5. Cancer: While it is not fully understood, it seems as though the polyphenols contained in green tea help to reduce the risk of cancer. On top of that, when population data is compared, those areas with the highest consumption of green tea seem to also have lower rates of some types of cancer.
6. Liver function: This is one of those areas where Eastern and Western medicine are still not in complete agreement, however, they both agree that the liver filters toxins from the body. So, it makes sense that anything that could promote this function would allow the body to remove even more toxins, and that would lead to better health. Some believe that green tea helps to absorb heavy metals from the bloodstream, giving the liver a chance to filter more toxins.
7. Stress relief: Regular tea drinkers often feel that this is the best of the green tea benefits. While it may not be scientific, there is no question that sipping a cup of tea and being lost in thought is a great way to relieve the stress of the day.
With all it has going for it, green tea is an excellent beverage for any number of reasons. Perhaps that’s why more and more people are drinking it.