Patient LoginTurns out, a cuppa’ tea could make the difference between your health and your heart disease. We’re not talking about your favorite Starbucks Latte though. Hot tea, which the English famously drink at every opportunity, is actually a lifesaver.
What Type of Tea, and Why?
Black, green, and oolong tea all originate from the leaves of the camellia sinensis plant, but they are prepared differently. While green tea is composed of unfermented leaves, oolong is partially fermented, and black tea is fully fermented. Since fermentation lowers the polyphenol content and increases caffeine content, green tea boosts the highest content of powerful polyphenols and thus the strongest ability to positively improve your health.
Polyphenols, by the way, are plant-based molecules with potent antioxidant properties. It’s for this reason that green tea wins the prize for healthiest of the teas and combater of health problems.
How Does Green Tea Improve Health?
More than anything else, green tea has shown its ability to lower the drinker’s risk of heart disease by improving the health of the fragile cells lining the blood vessels. Just 30 minutes after drinking green tea, study participants demonstrated better blood vessel function, particularly in the cells that can prevent clogged arteries. In fact, a study in 2009 suggested that seven cups of green tea a day can cut the risk of heart disease by 75 percent! While seven cups may sound like quite a bit, it’s worth it for a longer and healthier life.
Green tea’s antioxidants can also combat free radicals in the body to protect against cancer. Breast cancer and prostate cancer have both been evaluated in relation to green tea intake; while green tea drinkers pose a 22 percent lower risk of break cancer, men who drink green tea on a regular basis are at a whopping 48 percent lower risk of suffering from prostate cancer!
The evidence says it all: drinking green tea is a delicious and easy way for anybody to ensure better health!