Is A Green Tea Supplement Good For You?

Green tea has been used as a preventative medicine by eastern cultures for thousands of years. Green tea supplements are rich in compounds known as polyphenols that act as antioxidants and anti-cancer agents. Clinical and population studies show that green tea and green tea extracts can have some beneficial effects on human health. While green tea supplements can be good for you, they may be dangerous if used in excess.

Green Tea and Heart Disease

A number of clinical studies described by the University of Maryland Medical Center explain that green tea extracts can be good for your heart. The antioxidant properties of green tea extracts may help to prevent the hardening of the arteries and heart disease. Green tea can also help to reduce levels of cholesterol and fat in the blood. It has been estimated that drinking 3 cups of green tea per day or using green tea extracts can lower your risk of having a heart attack by 11 percent.

Green Tea Prevents Cancer

According to MedlinePlus and the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, green tea extracts may be beneficial for reducing your risk of developing many different types of cancer. Green tea has been shown to be potentially effective in preventing bladder, esophageal, ovarian and pancreatic cancers. The University of Maryland Medical Center summarizes a number of medical research studies that show that green tea is effective in preventing cancer. The most convincing studies of green tea as an anti-cancer agent come from population studies in Japan where consumption of green tea is associated with a lower risk of getting cancer.

Green Tea and Diabetes

Green tea extracts may help to prevent diabetes. According to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, green tea can have a beneficial effect on insulin activity and can help to keep glucose levels under control. Some studies, however, show that green tea polyphenol extracts have no beneficial effects for people with diabetes.

Green Tea Supplement Side Effects

When used as directed, green tea supplements have vitually no side effects. According to Drugs.com, most of the side effects of green tea supplements are caused by the caffeine in green tea. Some green tea supplements are caffeine-free. Many green tea supplements marketed for weight loss purposes, however, may have large amounts of caffeine. If your green tea supplement contains caffeine and you are sensitive to caffeine, you may experience side effects, such as constipation, nausea, agitation, insomnia and tremors.

Potential Green Tea Supplement Dangers

Some of the polyphenol compounds in green tea that promote health benefits can actually be harmful in very large quantities. A report in "New Scientist" explains that drinking up to 10 cups of green tea per day is safe. Green tea supplements, however, sometimes contain 50 times more polyphenols than a single cup of green tea. At these levels, it is theoretically possible for green tea supplements to cause liver poisoning and organ failure if they are overused.