Tuesday, June 7, 2011

The Benefits (and Non-Benefits) of Green Tea

The May issue of Nutrition Action Newsletter included a very interesting article about green tea. Do you drink it? I've never been a huge fan, since coffee has always been my hot drink of choice, but every once in a while a nice cup of green tea is perfect. I especially love brewing the tea then chilling it to make iced green tea. This is so refreshing on hot summer afternoons.

Here are a few highlights from the article:



  • The beneficial compounds found in green tea are called polyphenols, which are also found in cocoa, fruits, and vegetables.
  • Catechins (a group of flavanoids, which are a family of polyphenols) found in green tea are known for their disease fighting properties. Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) is the specific type of catechin that has been studied the most in green tea
  • Green tea has been studied for many years (mainly using rats as models). Of the research that has been done, there is some evidence that green tea may help protect humans against cancer, strokes, and cognitive decline, but it's not concrete.
  • Drinking green tea to speed up your metabolism? Don't waste your money. Research simply doesn't support this.
  • If you want to get the most benefit out of green tea, stick with freshly brewed tea, and drink it often (three or more servings a day). A typical 8 ounce cup of brewed green tea has about 190 mg EGCG, most products on the market today have significantly less.
  • If you're looking for green tea for its health benefits, look for "brewed green tea" as the primary ingredient, instead of "green tea concentrates" or "green tea extracts". Also keep in mind that many green tea drinks are loaded with sugar. But of course if you enjoy sweetened green tea, then cheers!

QUESTION: What's your favorite kind of tea?

18 comments :

  1. I'm a HUGE Earl Grey fan- I'm an Irish Step Dancer, at our dancer teacher would offer us Early Grey or Barry's (Irish Black) before and after class- I've been drinking it since I was 8! :)

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  2. I drink a lot of green tea. I like it's earthy flavor, and I also like that it has some caffeine, but not too much. I too love it iced in the summer!

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  3. I do buy and drink it for the health benefits but it always seems so watery no matter how long I steep the bags. I did find a raspberry green tea I like but now, after reading what you said, I'm wondering if it has the same benefits.

    I'm back to blogging now, hope you'll stop by and say hi sometime Gina.

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  4. I am not much of a tea drinker. Coffee for me but I found this very interesting. I do like iced chai tea though!

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  5. I drink quite a bit of green tea, especially since I cut back to one cup of coffee a day.

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  6. I just cannot get into tea..but I guess it might not be such a bad thing? ;)

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  7. i know that green tea has a lot of benefits and I don't drink it often... because I don't like its taste! when it comes to nutrition and benefits, I just can't eat it only for the benefits, I need to like the taste too.

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  8. I keep MEANING to drink more green tea, and I have some at my desk, but just don't get around to it as often as I should. I hang my head! :) Have a great day.

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  9. I like green tea, but caffeine bothers my stomach so I usually stick to peppermint tea or if I'm at Starbucks I'll get the iced passion tea, I love that stuff!

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  10. my favorite tea is tazo passion....for some reason i cannot get into green tea even though i know it is good for me.

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  11. my favorite tea is tazo passion....for some reason i cannot get into green tea even though i know it is good for me.

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  12. I LOVE drinking hot tea (much better than coffee), but I haven't been lately because of how darn hot it's been here in the Northeast. I haven't tried to chill my tea yet, mostly because I still really like sipping on a cup of hot tea. Oh, well, the heat wave is scheduled to break in a couple of days :) I enjoy green tea, but I actually prefer black tea with a little milk in it sometimes. I'll have to try chilled green tea - it sounds more summery, anyway.

    Great summary on the Nutrition Action Newsletter! I'm a couple of issues behind, so it was especially nice to catch the highlights of this article. Have a great rest of your week, Gina!

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  13. Thank you SO much for your incredibly sweet comments about our wedding photos!! *hugs* You made my day!! I thought of you at the reception when they brought out our cake, since you always post such great descriptions and photos of wedding cakes when you attend a wedding... :-) I'm definitely going to post a photo of ours soon, in your honor! ;-)

    and now that we're back in Ohio for good (so happy to be home and settled in! :-) blogger meetup soon, pretty please?? :-) perhaps email me ideas of when/where is good for you? Can't wait to finally get to meet in person! :-)

    P.S. So enjoyed this post - I love a cup of green tea at night, just before bed... Incredibly soothing... I'm definitely a coffee in the morning person, though! :-) and yerba mate, my new obsession!

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  14. Love green tea, love a product called EBOOST, love iced green tea with fresh mint (not talkin' snapple) and Harney Green Tea too. Interesting facts about green tea supplements, will have to read the article. And like you, I'm not giving up coffee any time soon.

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  15. I want to like it and drink it...but I just don't' like it. My IL's drink it all the time. I know it is great for you, but I'd rather have a diet coke ; ) (bad dietitian alert!)

    thanks for the blog comment and follow! I love your blog and have been lurking for a few months. You do a great job of condensing and explaining nutrition info so that it is easy to understand and apply : )

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  16. haha i LOVE green tea! but normally i'm a pretty boring standard lipton tea bag girl and i LOVE lipton apple cinnamommm

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  17. Darjeeling/Assam tea-I love my chai latte Indian style :)
    BTW Gina-not sure if you already heard of this webinar on:
    The Business of Nutrition: How Supermarket RDs Impact Public Health.
    Register if you are interested at:https://yakultusa.webex.com/mw0306ld/mywebex/default.do?nomenu=true&siteurl=yakultusa&service=6&rnd=0.4594807727366088&main_url=https%3A%2F%2Fyakultusa.webex.com%2Fec0605ld%2Feventcenter%2Fevent%2FeventAction.do%3FtheAction%3Ddetail%26confViewID%3D729515311%26siteurl%3Dyakultusa%26%26%26
    It sounds interesting,I just registered- that's when I remembered you!

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  18. I've never been a beverage fan but I wish I like tead! It's just one of those things that I can't develop a taste for. Oh well. I DO get confused about what kind to buy though, thanks for the clarification about the BREWED green tea! Good to know...I probably would have gone with the extracts!

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