Green tea is one of the four types of tea produced from the leaves and buds of the Camellia sinesis plant. While black tea and oolong tea types are fermented, causing valuable nutrient loss, green tea and the rare white teas are only lightly processed, retaining the highest levels of antioxidants called polyphenols. Green tea has many properties that bolster good health, including speeding up metabolism to aid in weight and fat loss.
Fat Metabolism
Clinical trials have demonstrated that green tea may boost metabolism and help burn fat in overweight and moderately obese individuals, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center. Green tea also bonds with serum triglycerides, or fat particles in the bloodstream, and helps to pass them through the digestive tract, reports the Pacific College of Oriental Medicine. Green tea also lowers serum cholesterol levels. Antioxidants in green tea have an anti-inflammatory effect that may help protect against cancers as well as inflammatory diseases like arthritis, thus helping to maintain a more healthful body with more energy to engage in exercise and fat-burning movement.
Insulin Metabolism
Green tea helps to slow the metabolism of sugar contained in dietary starches, reducing the amount of glucose in the bloodstream, according to the Pacific College of Oriental Medicine. Type 2 diabetes is a metabolic disorder that develops when the body becomes resistant to insulin, the substance that removes glucose from the bloodstream and delivers it for use or storage to other cells in the body. By slowing the rate at which starches convert to glucose in the bloodstream, green tea reduces the pressure for insulin efficiency, allowing sugars to be released closer to the pace at which the body can process them. Type 2 diabetes is a serious health condition; consult a physician before attempting to treat it with green tea consumption to insure that green tea complements the medical, dietary and lifestyle changes necessary to manage diabetes successfully.
Bone Metabolism
The powerful antioxidants in green tea have a positive effect on bone metabolism, decreasing the onset and intensity of osteoporosis in elderly men and women, according to a report by a team of American researchers published in the July 2009 journal "Nutrition Research." Osteoporosis is a degenerative condition that leads to a high risk of painful bone fractures. Oxidative stress is a key component of osteoporosis development, causing an increase in the cell death, or apoptosis, of bone-creating osteoblast and osteocyte cells. Antioxidant polyphenols in green tea may help preclude the oxidative stress that leads to osteoporosis. Consult a physician before undertaking a regular intake of green tea to treat osteoporosis to insure that it will not interfere with other treatment or medications.
Considerations and Warnings
Green tea contains caffeine that may create adverse side effects such as headaches, nausea, insomnia or nervousness in caffeine-sensitive individuals, according to Creighton University School of Medicine. Other herbal supplements with caffeine-like effects, such as mate, may create adverse health impacts if consumed together with green tea. Although green tea is generally considered safe to consume, drinking large quantities of it regularly could interact with a number of prescription medications, from aspirin to anti-psychotics. Advise your physician and your pharmacist before starting a regular regimen of drinking green tea.
References
- "Nutrition Research"; Green Tea and Bone Metabolism; Chwan-Li Shen et al.; July 2009
- Creighton University School of Medicine; Green Tea; Kirstin Bacani, MD, et al.; 2008
- Pacific College of Oriental Medicine; Green Tea for Type II Diabetes; 2009
- University of Maryland Medical Center; Green Tea; Sept. 20, 2010
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