If you live in the Western Hemisphere, you may have just recently learned about the health benefits of Green Tea that the Chinese have known about for centuries. In China, green tea has been used to treat everything from headaches to depression. Some believe that green tea's medicinal benefits have been known about and used in the Eastern Hemisphere for more than 4,000 years.

Scientists in both Asia and the west have been, in recent years, researching Green Tea and have provided hard evidence for the health benefits long associated with drinking green tea. In 1994 the Journal of the National Cancer Institute showed the results of an epidemiological study which indicated that drinking green tea reduced the risk of esophageal cancer in the Chinese men and women studied by almost sixty percent. University of Purdue researchers recently concluded that a compound in green tea inhibits the growth of cancer cells. There is also research which indicates that drinking green tea lowers total cholesterol levels, as well as improving the ratio of good (HDL) cholesterol to bad (LDL) cholesterol.

About.com has shown the following list to be just a few medical conditions in which drinking green tea is reputed to be helpful:
o cancer
o rheumatoid arthritis
o high cholesterol levels
o cariovascular disease
o infection
o impaired immune function

What is it about Green Tea that makes it different from other teas? The secret compound in green tea is that it is a good source for catechin polyphenols, particularly epigallocatechin gallate (which we know as EGCG). EGCG is a powerful anti-oxidant: besides inhibiting the growth of cancer cells, it kills cancer cells without harming healthy tissue. It has also been shown to be effective in lowering LDL cholesterol levels, and inhibiting the abnormal formation of blood clots. The importance of this information is that thrombosis (the formation of abnormal blood clots) is the leading cause of heart attacks and stroke.

From About.com:
Links are being made between the effects of drinking green tea and the "French Paradox." For years, researchers were puzzled by the fact that, despite consuming a diet rich in fat, the French have a lower incidence of heart disease than Americans. The answer was found to lie in red wine, which contains resveratrol, a polyphenol that limits the negative effects of smoking and a fatty diet. In a 1997 study, researchers from the University of Kansas determined that EGCG is twice as powerful as resveratrol, which may explain why the rate of heart disease among Japanese men is quite low, even though approximately seventy-five percent are smokers.

What can Green Tea do for the dieter? Also from About.com:
In November, 1999, the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition published the results of a study at the University of Geneva in Switzerland. Researchers found that men who were given a combination of caffeine and green tea extract burned more calories than those given only caffeine or a placebo.

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