Green tea is consumed primarily
in China, Japan, and a few countries in North Africa and the Middle East.
In many Japanese or Chinese restaurants, one of the dessert options is
green tea ice cream. In recent years green tea has become popular in Europe and North America
and now green tea pills are touted for weight loss, as potent antioxidants, and
for tumor prevention. What does the research say about the benefits of green tea
pills? Do green tea supplements help with weight loss and are they an effective
diet aid?
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Green Tea
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Green Tea Extract offers a convenient way to get the benefits of green
tea in a highly concentrated green tea pill form. This green tea extract is standardized for
bioflavonoid-like antioxidants known as polyphenols, particularly Epigallocatechin
Gallate (EGCG). EGCG has been found in scientific studies to be a potent
antioxidant. Green tea antioxidants are likely to become more popular with time.
Green Tea
Supplement Facts
Calcium
Green Tea Extract Yielding 35 mg epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG)
Suggested Use: 1
green tea extract tablet a few times a week with breakfast or lunch. Take
a green tea extract
pill in the morning or midday
before or with a meal. Evening use may lead to mild insomnia.
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FREE Diet Rx with
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All
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Helps you maintain healthy blood sugar levels
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Provides healthy fiber
Improves energy
Balances mood
Improves mental concentration and focus
Improves will power and choice of food selection
What's in green tea?
Fresh green tea leaf is unusually rich in polyphenols which may constitute
up to 30% of the dry leaf weight. Polyphenols include catechins, flavanols,
chlorogenic acid, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), and one unique to tea,
theogallin. Caffeine in green tea is present at an average level of 3%
along with very small amounts of methylxanthines, theobromine and
theophylline. The amino acid theanine (5-N-ethylglutamine) is also unique
to tea.
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See the link above for green tea.
Health benefit of
green tea extract
Human research is still very early, but the
potential health benefits ascribed to green tea include
antioxidant effects, cancer chemoprevention, antiviral effects, blood thinning
properties, improving cardiovascular health,
slowing mental decline, enhancing weight loss, arthritis protection, and protecting the skin from the damage caused by ionizing
radiation. The compound EGCG found in green tea extract has been shown to regulate dozens of
disease-specific molecular targets. Long term human research is required before
we determine the appropriate dosage and amount of green tea or green tea extract required to provide
these health benefits.
Green
tea and weight loss - green tea diet - is green tea a fat burner?
Green tea consumption is reportedly
associated with various health-promoting properties. For example, it has been
shown to promote fat oxidation in humans at rest and to prevent obesity and
improve insulin sensitivity in mice.
Human studies
regarding the benefit of green tea in weight loss have not shown consistent
results. In one study mentioned below, daily consumption of green tea for 12 weeks reduced body fat. Green tea could enhance metabolism. Scientists are still evaluating whether
a green tea pill by itself
leads to weight loss. See below for more green tea and weight loss research
information. If you plan to drink green tea for weight loss, avoid drinking after mid afternoon
or early evening so that your sleep is not disturbed.
Anti-obesity
effects of green tea: from bedside to bench.
Mol Nutr Food Res. 2006 Feb;50(2):176-87. DSM Nutritional Products,
Department of Human Nutrition and Health, Basel, Switzerland.
Green tea, green tea catechins, and epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) have been
demonstrated in cell culture and animal models of obesity to reduce adipocyte
differentiation and proliferation, lipogenesis, fat mass, body weight, fat
absorption, plasma levels of triglycerides, free fatty acids, cholesterol,
glucose, insulin and leptin, as well as to increase beta-oxidation and
thermogenesis. Adipose tissue, liver, intestine, and skeletal muscle are target
organs of green tea, mediating its anti-obesity effects. Studies conducted with
human subjects report reduced body weight and body fat, as well as increased fat
oxidation and thermogenesis and thereby confirm findings in cell culture systems
and animal models of obesity. There is still a need for well-designed and
controlled clinical studies to validate the existing and encouraging human
studies.
Ingestion of a tea rich in catechins leads
to a reduction in body fat and malondialdehyde-modified LDL in men.
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 81, No. 1, 122-129, January
2005
Catechins, the major component of green tea extract, have various physiologic
effects. There are few studies, however, on the effects of catechins on body fat
reduction in humans. We investigated the effect of catechins from green tea on
body fat reduction and the relation between oxidized LDL and body fat variables.
Design: After a 2-wk diet run-in period, healthy Japanese men were divided into
2 groups with similar BMI and waist circumference distributions. A 12-wk
double-blind study was performed in which the subjects ingested 1 bottle oolong
tea /d containing 690 mg catechins (green tea extract group; n = 17) or 1 bottle
oolong tea /d containing 22 mg catechins (control group; n = 18). Results: Body
weight, BMI, waist circumference, body fat mass, and subcutaneous fat area were
significantly lower in the green tea extract group than in the control group. Conclusion: Daily consumption of green tea containing 690 mg catechins for 12 wk reduced body fat, which suggests that the ingestion of
catechins from green tea might be useful in the prevention and improvement of
lifestyle-related diseases, mainly obesity.
Effect of long-term oral administration of green tea extract on weight gain and
glucose tolerance in Zucker diabetic (ZDF) rats.
J Herb Pharmacother. 2005;5(3):55-65. Botanical Center in Vivo Care, 700
West State St, West Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA.
There have been some claims that green tea reduces weight and lowers blood
glucose in diabetes. Intraperitoneal injections of green tea catechins in
diabetic rats have shown beneficial effects. To determine if oral administration
of green tea would prevent development of diabetes, young Zucker diabetic rats
were dosed with green tea extract containing 50-125 mg/kg of Epigallocatechin
gallate (EGCG) starting at 7 weeks of age, before the appearance of excessive
weight gain and glucose elevation. While there was a trend toward lower weight
gain and average daily glucose, there was no statistically significant
difference.
Best green tea diet supplement
There are a number of green tea diet supplements on the market, and since no
studies have been done comparing all of them, it is impossible to say honestly
which one of these products is the best green tea diet supplement.
Green tea extract and blood sugar
It does not appear that green tea has much of an influence on blood sugar
levels. However, this does not mean it is not beneficial to those with diabetes.
Since green tea extract has has potent polyphenol
antioxidants, drinking green tea or taking a green tea extract may be helpful in
terms of overall antioxidant status in the body. However, green tea extract may reduce collagen cross
linking which is often a consequence of high blood sugar levels.
Additional health benefits of
green tea
Green tea has several potential health benefits that are slowly being
discovered, here are some preliminary results:
Anti aging benefit of drinking green tea
According to a study done with Japanese adults, those who consumed the
most green tea were less likely to die from cardiovascular disease or any
other cause, except cancer, than were the less-frequent green tea
drinkers. Dr. Kuriyama and colleagues analyzed information on 40,530
Japanese adults, 40 to 79 years old, who participated in the Ohsaki
National Health Insurance Cohort Study. The subjects, who were followed an 11
year period from 1995 to 2005, were from a northeastern region of the country
where most of the adults drink green tea three or more times per day. Adults who
drank the most green tea were the least likely to die from cardiovascular
disease. Men who consumed at least five cups of green tea each day were 12
percent less likely to die from any cause. Whereas, women who drank five or more
cups of green tea each day were 23 percent less likely to die from any cause and
31 percent less likely to die from cardiovascular disease.
Comments: For the time being, if you don't drink green tea, it may be a
good idea to have a cup a day or a few times a week. If you already drink
green tea on a daily basis, you could perhaps add another dup a day. It's
also possible that drinking a variety of teas may provide more benefit
than just drinking additional green tea. Who's to say other herbal teas
(and there are so many to choose from) are not as healthy as green tea?
Another option is to take a green tea extract supplement a few times a
week. Avoid the use of the tea or the supplement after mid afternoon since
the caffeine and stimulants may interfere with sleep. One factor to
consider is that this study was done in Japan. Americans have a different
diet and lifestyle. Will green tea have similar benefits in those on a
Western diet? Probably, but we can't say for sure.
Green tea as antioxidant
Green tea extract capsules, when given to humans,
increase the production of such as glutathione S-transferase (GST) enzymes which
are helpful in detoxification and cancer prevention. Dr. H.-H. Sherry Chow, of
the University of Arizona, Tucson, gave volunteers four green tea extract
capsules, each containing 200 mg of epigallocatechin gallate, every morning
prior to eating. This provided the equivalent amount of epigallocatechin gallate
obtained from drinking 8 to 16 cups of green tea daily. Those with the lowest
GST levels at the start of the study and who took the green tea extracts were
found to have glutathione S-transferase enzymes increased by 80 percent.
Those who had good levels of glutathione S-transferase did not have much of a
change in their levels. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, August
2007.
Anti viral activity
Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) has been suggested to have antiviral activity.
To determine the effects of EGCG on HIV infection, peripheral blood
lymphocytes infected with HIV were incubated with increasing concentrations of EGCG. EGCG
strongly inhibited the replication of the HIV virus.
Anti platelet activity
Anti-platelet (blood thinning) benefit of green tea catechins is mediated by inhibition of
cytoplasmic calcium increase.
Green tea extract for arthritis and healthy joints
Some green tea catechins are chondroprotective (protecting cartilage) in lab
studies, and that consumption of green tea may benefit the arthritis
patient by reducing inflammation and slowing cartilage breakdown. Further
studies will be required to determine whether these compounds access the
joint space in sufficient concentration and in a form capable of providing
efficacy when ingested as tea or capsule.
Green tea for cancer
Several compounds in green tea have anti cancer potential.
Pancreatic cancer - In mouse studies, green tea extract EGCG inhibits pancreatic cancer growth, invasion, metastasis and angiogenesis. Human studies will elucidate whether green tea extract could be used for the management of pancreatic cancer prevention and treatment.
Green tea and diabetes
Drinking green tea or taking a green tea supplements does not seem to have a
major role to play in lowering blood sugar, but the antioxidant effects of green
tea are nevertheless beneficial for those with diabetes. Green tea may reduce
advanced glycation end products and reduce the rate of collagen cross linking.
Green tea for heart health
Green tea has preventive effects on both chronic inflammatory diseases and
lifestyle-related diseases including cardiovascular disease.
Green tea for lung health
Flavanol (-)epigallocatechin-3-gallate is shown to be a potent natural inhibitor of
leukocyte elastase that may be used to reduce elastase-mediated progression to emphysema.
More about green tea
Tea is the most widely consumed beverage
aside from water.
Green tea contains polyphenolic compounds, which account for 30% of the dry weight of the leaves.
Most of the polyphenols are flavanols, of which (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG)
is the most abundant. Tea is manufactured in three basic forms:
Black Tea -- During black tea production, oxidation is promoted so
that most of these substances are oxidized.
Green tea -- Green tea is prepared in such a way as to prevent the
oxidation of green leaf polyphenols.
Oolong tea -- Oolong tea is a partially oxidized product. Of the
approximately 3 million metric tons of dried tea manufactured, only 20% is green
tea and less than 2% is oolong tea.
Green tea caffeine content - does green
tea have caffeine?
There are hundreds of types of green tea and countless
green tea growing farms. Each batch of green tea will have a slightly different
caffeine amount. In addition to caffeine, green tea has beneficial compounds
mostly of the polyphenol class.
Study in Portugal regarding
caffeine content of green tea
A study done in Portugal evaluating various types of green tea found the caffeine content
in green tea ranged between 140 to 340
mg per liter.
Green Tea side effects
A common green tea side effect is shallow sleep. Green tea has caffeine and methylxanthines, so avoid drinking
or taking the capsules in the evening. We have not come across any other common
green tea side effects at this time except this one caution:
Caution: In rare cases extracts from green tea have been reported to adversely affect the liver. Discontinue use and consult a healthcare practitioner if you have a liver disorder or develop symptoms of liver trouble, such as abdominal pain, dark urine, or jaundice. If you plan to take green tea extract for prolonged periods, take a week off each month.
Q. I have a question about the
recent decision to put warning labels on supplements containing green tea
extracts. it
warns of possible liver damage. Are there supplements derived from green tea
extracts which will not be easily identifiable by their labels? For example if a
supplement was advertised to contain "antioxidants" how would the consumer know
if it contained the dangerous chemical compound in the green tea study?
A. The study that found green tea extract polyphenols may damage
liver tissue used high doses injected into small mammals. Many Japanese drink
green tea several cups a day without problems. I am not concerned that taking a
green tea supplement at one capsule or tablet a few times a week would cause any
liver problems. As with any supplement, it is a good idea to take breaks from
use. Low dosages of many supplements are often of benefit, but high dosages
could be harmful.
Q. I read an article about green
tea extract. The article made several claims regarding the benefits of green tea
and green tea extract. Can you confirm or deny these claims. The article claims
green tea cuts the risk for cancer due to the polyphenol antioxidants. It claims
green tea reduces blood pressure by keeping blood vessels dilated. It says green
tea helps memory and reduces the risk for Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.
And, green tea speeds up the body's calorie-burning process and helps you lose
weight.
A. Laboratory studies have shown green tea has anti cancer
potential, whether long term human studies will confirm this finding has yet to
be determined. Green tea may have a slight benefit for blood pressure unless
perhaps used in high amounts. Compounds in green tea may protect brain cells but
it is too early to tell if drinking green tea or taking green tea extract
supplements prevent or treat Alzheimer's disease or Parkinson's disease. Green
tea extract may have slight thermogenic activity and may have some appetite
suppressing activity that could lead to a slight weight loss.
Additional web sites of interest
Alternative medicine topics
regarding the natural treatment of different health conditions.
Ginkgo biloba brain herb for
improved mental health and function.
Glucosamine arthritis joint
health improvement supplements and formulas.
Goji berry fruit health benefits,
including improvement in vision
Herbal herb information on various
herbs used in natural medicine.
Tribulus terrestris extract
for improved sexual function
Ray Sahelian, M.D. web site for various
medical and health issues including health benefit of green tea extract.
Green tea extract EGCG questions
Q. There's been a lot of talk about EGCG lately, the extract from green
tea. I see supplements of EGCG being sold in high dosages. Are these safe
to take?
A. Green tea is hot these days (no pun intended). Consumers are
switching from regular tea to green tea and other herbal teas. We are not big fans of taking large doses of isolated substances from herbs, such as a
high amount of EGCG, preferring to take the whole powder or a less
concentrated extract. Many people think the higher the dose of a substance
they supplement, the healthier they will be, but that may not always be
the case, and often is not the case. So, for the time being, we don't see
the need to take a high dose of EGCG unless perhaps under medically
supervised treatment for a health condition.
Q. Can you possibly tell me how many mg of caffeine
would be in 50 mg of green tea (leaf) extract?
A. This is impossible to say accurately since there are countless
extract potencies of green tea and countless varieties of green tea leaf and
herb. The level of caffeine could vary significantly between different extracts,
growers, processors, and manufacturers.
Q. In regards to the green tea issue: I had been
drinking 2 to 4 cups of green tea for about ten years, mostly organic
and de-caf. Last year I found out about the fluoride issue and also found out
that green tea contains fluoride. During this time I was also drinking bottled
water (I was concerned about possible lead in the water) and eating a good diet,
mostly organic. I had no major health problems, just annoying sinus problems
which would turn into infections several times/year. I did however have a
lowered white cell count during this time (3.8-4.2) Then I developed sleep
problems about 3 years ago and tried just about everything for them. I gave up
drinking green tea last year (still have a cup of coffee with caffeine). Not
only have my sleep problems ceased, but my white cell count is back to normal. I
still can't believe the results but I still won't go back to drinking green tea.
I did the research and I must be sensitive
to fluoride.
A. Green tea, even decaf, has many compounds in it, such as
catechins, that cause alertness. Drinking two to four cups of green tea a day
will likely cause shallow sleep and at this time we are not convinced that it is
the fluoride causing it.
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Gynostemma pentaphyllum
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