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Jul 12, 2018 11:32AM
marijen
wrote:
hmm I just got around to buying Matcha Green Tea and looked up the benefits. Wish I had known this sooner.
8 Health Benefits of Matcha Green Tea
1. May Help Prevent Cancer
Research has shown that green tea consumption can reduce the risk of cancer. Some of the specific cancers where risk reduction has been scientifically demonstrated include:
- Bladder cancer: A study of 882 women showed that the risk of urinary bladder cancer was significantly reduced in women who consumed matcha. (2)
- Breast cancer: A meta-analysis of multiple observational studies found that women who drank the most green tea had a 22 percent lower risk of developing breast cancer. Also, they had a lower chance of breast cancer consuming green tea compared to consuming black tea. (3)
- Colon and rectal cancers: A study of 69,710 Chinese women aged 40 to 70 years old found that green tea drinkers had a 57 percent lower risk of colorectal cancer. An inverse association with regular tea drinking was also observed for rectal cancers. (4)
- Prostate cancer: One large study found that Japanese men who drank five or more cups of green tea per day had a 48 percent lower risk of developing prostate cancer. (5)
According to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the catechins in matcha green tea (EGCG, EGC, ECG and EC) are so powerful that they may actually help prevent cancer, potentially making match one of the top natural cancer treatment options out there. (6) While it might seem outrageous that regularly drinking something as common as green tea can put you at a lesser risk, it's not that far-fetched. The NCI provides the following explanation:
- The chemicals in green tea, especially EGCG and ECG, have substantial free radical-scavenging capability. They have also been proven clinically to protect cells from DNA damage caused by reactive oxygen species.
- Tea polyphenols have been shown to inhibit tumor cell development and induce apoptosis (cancer cell destruction) in laboratory and animal studies.
- The catechins in green tea activate detoxification enzymes, such as glutathione S-transferase and quinone reductase. These enzymes are praised for preventing tumor growth.
- Lastly, research has revealed two additional findings. The catechins in green tea not only protect against damage caused by ultraviolet B radiation, but also they can improve immune system function.
That's a pretty impressive list of attributes, right? If that were all matcha could do, that'd be a lot. But it does a lot more than prevent cancer.
2. Promotes Weight Loss
There is good reason that matcha made my list of 15 Ultimate Fat-Burning Foods. When it comes to boosting your metabolism and helping with weight loss, science shows that few things are more beneficial than matcha green tea. A study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition compared the effects of drinking one bottle of oolong tea containing 690 milligrams of catechins versus drinking one bottle containing 22 milligrams of catechins. In the study, 35 healthy Japanese men with similar BMI and waist circumference distributions were divided into two groups.
The researchers gave one group the 690 milligrams of tea and the other group the 22 milligrams of tea. After 12 weeks, they observed that body fat mass, BMI, body weight, subcutaneous fat area and waist circumference were all "significantly lower" in the 690-milligram catechin group than in the 22-milligram group. Even more astounding were the modifications in LDL levels due to the dramatic decreases in body fat mass and total fat area.
From these results, researchers confidently concluded that because drinking tea containing 690 milligrams of catechins for 12 weeks reduced body fat, consuming catechins could aid in the prevention and improvement of many diseases — especially obesity. (7)
3. Benefits Exercise Performance
Another fascinating aspect of matcha green tea is that clinical tests suggest it can help speed recovery in athletes whose focus is high-intensity workouts like burst training. It's also been shown to reverse cellular damage caused by oxidative-nitrosative stress. Oxidative-nitrosative stress is just a fancy term for the internal imbalance of free radicals and antioxidants. And this imbalance ultimately destroys cells, prevents their repair and causes disease.
A study published in Basic and Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology evaluated the potential affect EGCG had on mice with chronic fatigue syndrome that were forced to swim for six minutes a day over a period of 15 days. After this intense activity regimen, researchers discovered that the animals experienced significant increases in oxidative-nitrosative stress and tumor necrosis factor-alpha levels, which is a biochemical marker for cell death. Astoundingly, by administering continual dosages of EGCG, the researchers found that both of these alterations were completely reversed. (8)
4. Best Food Source of Disease-Fighting Catechins
According to Harvard research, green tea is the best food source of a group of antioxidants known as catechins. Research has shown catechins to be more powerful than both vitamins C and E in stopping oxidative damage to cells. They also appear to have other disease-fighting abilities. (9)
It wasn't until a decade ago that researchers discovered that one type of tea may be more beneficial than another. To test the hypothesis that matcha is more catechin-dense than other green teas, researchers from the University of Colorado Springs conducted a comparison study between matcha and other common green teas by utilizing a process that separated mixtures into their individual parts using various mediums.
Published in the Journal of Chromatography, the results were groundbreaking. The researchers discovered that, "The concentration of EGCG available from drinking matcha is 137 times greater than the amount of EGCG available from China Green Tips green tea, and at least three times higher than the largest literature value for other green teas." (10)
