Tea is one of the most popular beverages consumed around the world, second only to water, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center. There are many varieties of tea, such as black, green, white and oolong. Green tea in particular contains a high concentration of the antioxidant known as EGCG, which can help the body stay healthy and even prevent cancer. Men in particular can benefit from drinking tea as it has been shown to treat health problems such as prostate cancer and help maintain a healthy weight.
Green Tea
Tea is made from the dried leaf of the plant Camellia sinensis. After the leaves are picked, they generally begin to oxidize, making different kinds of teas. The amount of time a tea leaf is given to oxidize and other aspects of processing will determine what kind of tea is made. Green tea is made from tea leaves that are not allowed to wilt or oxidize. According to health and wellness advocate Craig Cooper in the Huffington Post, green tea contains several compounds which are especially important in maintaining health for men. Green tea contains one of the highest concentrations of antioxidants of any type of tea, the most potent being a complex polyphenol called Epigallocatechin-3-gallate, or EGCG. This particular antioxidant is known to have many positive effects on the body.
Weight Control
Scientists at the University of Chicago's Tang Center for Herbal Medicine Research discovered that the EGCG in green tea appears to help curb the appetite. When scientists injected rats with a concentration of EGCG, they found that the rats' appetites shrunk by nearly 60 percent in just a week. Some of the rats had lost up to 21 percent of their body weight by the end of the study. While this study only measures the effects on the appetite of rats, green tea extract is a popular ingredient in many weight loss products, according to the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. Shutsung Liao, PhD, also noted that, in this experiment, the male rats produced less testosterone and shrunk the size of their prostate by almost 70 percent.
Cancer Prevention
The catechins, or antioxidants, found in green tea have been found to help prevent certain types of cancer in studies, according to the National Cancer Institute. The EGCG found in green tea helps to prevent damage to DNA cells and wards off harmful free radicals. In a 2006 study published by Cancer Research, 60 men who had high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia, a precursor to prostate cancer, took either 200 mg of green tea catechin or a placebo three times per day over the span of a year. At the end of the study, only one patient who had been taking the green tea supplements had detectable cancer while nine of the placebo patients were diagnosed with prostate cancer.
Prostate Health
Leydig cells are found in the male testicles and are the source of the production of testosterone in the body. While testosterone is crucial to a man's health, overstimulation of the Leydig cells can enlarge the prostate and become a health risk. In a 2009 study conducted by the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology at the Federal University of Pernambuco in Brazil, researchers isolated Leydig cells with a concentration of EGCG in an incubator. The results of the study found that the EGCG significantly decreased the production of testosterone in the cells. This could potentially be beneficial to men with enlarged prostates.
References
- University of Chicago Hospitals: "Green Tea Derivative Causes Loss of Appetite, Weight Loss in Rats"; February 2000
- National Institutes of Health: "Chemoprevention of Human Prostate Cancer by Oral Administration of Green Tea Catechins in Volunteers with High-grade Prostate Intraepithelial Neoplasia;" January 2006
- National Cancer Institute: "Tea and Cancer Prevention: Strengths and Limits of the Evidence"; 2010
- National Institutes of Health: "Green Tea Polyphenols Inhibit Testosterone Production in Rat Leydig Cells"; May 2009
- National Institutes of Health: "Catechin and Caffeine Content of Green Tea Dietary Supplements and Correlation with Antioxidant Capacity"; 2006
- Mayo Clinic: "Tea: Enjoy a Cup for Health and Pleasure"; 2010
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