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Green Tea Benefits – Throwing Light to a Healthier Life
Nowadays people are becoming more and more health conscious. It is mainly because many people are falling sick or are suffering from one or the other kind of ailments early in their lives. We are following a lifestyle which involves least physical activity leading to obesity. We have become so prone to doing things without any hard work that there is a lack of any activity in our lives. Our food habit is yet another factor to be blamed for the same. Green tea benefits is definitely a boon to our generation.
Green Tea
When the leaves, leaf buds and internodes of various cultivars and sub varieties of the Camellia sinensis plant are processed and cured using various methods, an agricultural product called tea is formed. We can classify tea into four general categories white tea, green tea, oolong tea and black tea. It’s the oxidization process that determines the tea type. Heavily oxidized tea would be dark and is high in caffeine and flavor. On the other hand green tea is not oxidized. This helps in retaining much of its nutrients and antioxidants.
Benefits of Green Tea
Green tea benefits are immense. China is considered to be one of the first countries to cultivate tea. Today tea is most widely consumed drink next to water. Green tea is made from unfermented leaves and hence contains the highest concentration of antioxidants called polyphenols. Antioxidants scavenge free radicals in the body that affect our cells, tamper DNA and even cause cell death. Free radicals naturally occur in the body. Environmental factors such as air pollution, smoking, ultraviolet rays, radiation etc. also affect our body. Green tea helps in neutralizing the damaging effect of the same.
When we eat fatty food it gets converted into triglyceride in the liver and small intestine. Gradually it gets carried into the blood stream and affects other tissues in our body. Triglyceride is used as a source of energy and is very necessary for our body but when it exceeds the normal limit it may cause obesity. Green tea has got high volume of polyphenols which activates enzymes that dissolve excess triglyceride. Thus it is very effective in burning fat.
Antioxidant in green tea helps in stimulating the metabolism and helps in weight loss. Antioxidant such as epigallocatechin gallate or EGCG helps in the same. EGCG combined with caffeine in green tea fuel the central nervous system which helps in releasing fat into the blood stream for the body to use as a fuel. This particular process of using fat as energy is called thermogenesis. Thus providing extra energy, burning fat and sheds excess water.
It has been found that green tea helps in hydrating our body as water does. It also provides nutrients and powerful antioxidants which protect us from diseases such as cancer, strokes, heart problems, viruses etc. Green tea benefits can be reviewed from the fact that it increases your metabolism, increases energy, blocks fat absorption, boosts your immune system, give healthier skin, enhance our focus and mental function, promote oral health and protect our body against ailments.