Green tea is known for its health benefits, but did you know this?
Though green tea has been associated with medicinal benefits in parts of Asia for thousands of years, America's wide embrace of the holistic advantages of the beverage, along with the adoption of other Eastern beliefs and practices such as yoga and meditation, is far more recent.
It wasn't until the 1960s and 1970s that green tea began making its way into a large number of U.S. restaurants, stores and homes. Today, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world after water and can be found in about 8 of 10 U.S. households according to New York City's Tea Association of the USA. On any given day, over 159 million Americans are drinking tea ? with green tea being the preferred type for many.
What is green tea?
Green tea is one of more than 1,000 varieties of tea and is a beverage or dietary supplement promoted for improving mental alertness, relieving digestive symptoms and headaches, and promoting weight loss, per the National Institutes of Health Center for Complementary and Integrative Health.
It comes from the Camellia sinensis plant ? the same plant from which come the other two most popular teas in America, namely black and oolong teas. To produce green tea, leaves from the plant are steamed, pan-fried and dried.
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Is green tea good for you?
"Unlike for many botanicals on the market, there are numerous clinical trials demonstrating that regular consumption of green tea has measurable health effects," says Carol Johnston, PhD, RD, a professor of nutrition at Arizona State University. Such benefits include improved brain function, fewer gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms, a boosted metabolism, and even reduced bad breath.
"Green tea also contains healthy bioactive compounds such as polyphenols," says Johnston. Polyphenols are natural compounds great for reducing inflammation and chronic disease.
"And green tea is rich in several powerful antioxidants like L-theanine and EGCG," says Uma Naidoo, MD, director of nutritional and lifestyle psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital and the author of “This is Your Brain on Food." EGCG, or epigallocatechin gallate, has been shown to reduce inflammation and aid weight loss. And research shows that L-theanine is helpful in relieving stress disorders, improving mood, and getting better sleep.
Naidoo says the beverage also "helps with anxiety, protects against cancer and helps reduce body fat ? especially around the waist."
Is green tea OK to drink every day?
The National Institutes of Health Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, notes that when green tea is consumed as a beverage, it's "believed to be safe when used in amounts up to 8 cups per day."
Still, green tea does have caffeine in it, a compound known for stimulating the central nervous system. Drinking too much caffeine can cause insomnia, headaches, dehydration, dizziness and dependency. Green tea has about 28 milligrams of caffeine in 8 ounces of brewed liquid or 19 milligrams in the same amount of a ready-to-drink bottled form, per the Mayo Clinic. That brewed amount is significantly less than the 96 milligrams of caffeine per 8 ounces of brewed coffee, but more than the 22 milligrams of caffeine found in 8 ounces of Cola.
Beyond being careful with green tea's caffeinated content, it's also wise to be mindful of empty calories from adding sugar and too many creamers to the beverage, says Naidoo. What's more, "not all healthy foods agree with everyone’s body and mind because each of us has a unique gut microbiome," she adds, "but if you like green tea and it agrees with your body and mind, drink a few cups a day and enjoy it."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Is green tea good for you? Health benefits you didn't know