The Miracle of Green Tea

The Benefits Of Green Tea:

Green Tea Contains The Following:

Tannins - A group of simple and complex phenol, polyphenol, and flavonoid compounds. Produced by plants, all of the tannins are relatively resistant to digestion or fermentation. All tannins act as astringents, shrinking tissues and contracting structural proteins in the skin and mucosa.

What Does This Do For You?

Having a cup of green tea after a meal can aid in digestion. Green tea has been used for thousand of years in Asia as a digestive.

Catechins - Catechins are a category of polyphenols. In green tea, catechins are present in significant quantities, more specifically; epicatechin (EC), epigallocatechin (EGC), epicatechin gallate (ECG) and epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG). EGCG makes up about 10-50% of the total catechin content and appears to be the most powerful of the catechins - with antioxidant activity about 25-100 times more potent than vitamins C and E.

A cup of green tea may provide 10-40mg of polyphenols and has antioxidant activity greater than a serving of broccoli, spinach, carrots or strawberries.

What Does This Do For You?

Well having a powerful anti-oxidant coursing through your system after a heavy workout is just what you need to curb free radical damage.

Flavonoids - Flavonoids are plant pigments, and are the brightly colored chemical constituents found in most fresh fruits and vegetables.

What Does This Do For You?

Obviously your workouts will suffer if you are sick.

Theanine - An amino acid that produces tranquilizing effects in the brain, theanine is a unique amino acid found in the leaves sencha. Theanine is quite different from the polyphenol and catechin antioxidants for which green tea is typically consumed.

What Does This Do For You?

I can personally attest to the good feelings you get after a couple cups of green tea. It leaves you with a peaceful feeling without compromising motivation and mental activity.

Bodybuilding & Fitness Uses

Pre-workout - Green tea is a great alternative to the ECA stack. Yeah I know nothing beats the ECA stack but hear me out. A number of people, including myself do not like how the ECA stack makes us feel.

I get jittery and easily angered for some reason. The green tea is great because it does have some caffeine and the Theanine really relaxes you mentally but lets you perform physically.

Cutting - Research suggests that supplementing with green tea can raise your resting metabolic rate by 3%. In order to get this benefit you must have about about 3 glasses a day. If you have a bmr of 2000 or so that means 60 extra calories a day. Why do you see so few obese Asians. Its not the kung-fu. It's the green tea!

All About Tea

All teas come from the same source. The tea plant is a member of the Camellia family (Camellia sinensis). Black tea, oolong tea, and green tea are all derivatives of this one plant.

It is the way the tea is prepared that determines its color. After the tea plant is picked, it is fermented, and then heated to stop the fermentation process. This fermentation process is responsible for the caffine content of the tea. The longer it is fermented the more caffine the tea will have. Green tea has the least amount of caffine of all the teas because it is the least fermented. The reason why green tea has the most health benefits is because a longer fermentation process destroys many of the beneficial substances in the tea plant. That is why chugging your Lipton tea is not even remotely comparable to having a cup of green tea (Lipton is made from black tea).

Green Tea Fights Fat

Jan. 26, 2005 -- Need another healthy reason to drink green tea? Aside from fighting heart disease, cancer, and other diseases, a new study shows that drinking green tea may also fight fat.

The study showed that people who drank a bottle of tea fortified with green tea extract every day for three months lost more body fat than those who drank a bottle of regular oolong tea.

Researchers say the results indicate that substances found in green tea known as catechins may trigger weight loss by stimulating the body to burn calories and decreasing body fat.

The findings appear in the January issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Green Tea: Fat Fighter?

Black tea, oolong tea, and green tea come from the same Camellia sinensis plant. But unlike the other two varieties, green tea leaves are not fermented before steaming and drying.

Most teas contain large amounts of polyphenols, which are plant-based substances that have been shown to have antioxidant, anticancer, and antiviral properties.

However, green tea is particularly rich in a type of polyphenols called catechins. These substances have also been shown to have anti-inflammatory and anticancer properties, but recent research in animals show that catechins may also affect body fat accumulation and cholesterol levels.

In this study, researchers looked at the effects of catechins on body fat reduction and weight loss in a group of 35 Japanese men. The men had similar weights based on their BMI (body mass index, an indicator of body fat) and waist sizes.

The men were divided into two groups. For three months, the first group drank a bottle of oolong tea fortified with green tea extract containing 690 milligrams of catechins, and the other group drank a bottle of oolong tea with 22 milligrams of catechins.

During this time, the men ate identical breakfasts and dinners and were instructed to control their calorie and fat intake at all times so that overall total diets were similar.

After three months, the study showed that the men who drank the green tea extract lost more weight (5.3 pounds vs. 2.9 pounds) and experienced a significantly greater decrease in BMI, waist size, and total body fat.

In addition, LDL "bad" cholesterol went down in the men who drank the green tea extract.

The catechin content varies by amount of green tea used and steeping time. But general recommendations, based on previous studies on the benefits of green tea, are at least 4 cups a day. Green tea extract supplements are also available.

Researchers say the results indicate that catechins in green tea not only help burn calories and lower LDL cholesterol but may also be able to mildly reduce body fat.

"These results suggest that catechins contribute to the prevention of and improvement in various lifestyle-related diseases, particularly obesity," write researcher Tomonori Nagao of Health Care Products Research Laboratories in Tokyo, and colleagues.

SOURCE: Nagao, T. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, January 2005; vol 81: 122-129.

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