Fighting Heart Disease with Green Tea
Tea is one of the most popular drinks in the world. Only water is drunk more often than tea. However, there are a number of different forms of tea.
The main difference between teas is the amount of processing that the tealeaves have undergone. Tealeaves are usually dried after they have been picked. They may then also be crushed or fermented. Black tea is a fermented tea that has been processed a lot. The least processed tea is green tea, which is usually just lightly steamed before it is sold and used. All types of tea, no matter how much they have been processed, contain polyphenols or antioxidants that may have health benefits. However, it is the lightly processed green tea that contains the highest levels of antioxidants. This means that green tea is potentially better for the heart than other types of tea.
The health benefits of green tea have been widely discussed. It is believed that green tea can help to prevent both heart disease and cancer, and there is scientific evidence to back up these claims.
A scientific study that included over 400,000 participants between the ages of 40 and 79 has shown that green tea can help to prevent deaths due to heart disease. The study followed participants over a period of eleven years in order to find patterns in the occurrence of deaths from cancer, heart disease and other causes. During the first seven years of the study, it was found that people who drank green tea at a rate of at least five cups a day had a 26 percent lower rate of death from heart disease than the other participants. The effects seemed to be stronger in female participants than in the men who took part in the study.
It is believed that the health benefits of green tea derive from the antioxidants that it contains, specifically the polyphenol catechins. Antioxidants may be able to protect the body from the damage that can be caused by free radicals. Green tea is one of the best sources of antioxidants, with a higher antioxidant potential that most fruits and vegetables.
Despite the widespread belief that green tea can have important health benefits, the scientific evidence for these benefits is still considered inconclusive. There has been no definitive proof that green tea can help to prevent either heart disease or cancer.
Although the health benefits of drinking green tea have not yet been proved, there are no adverse effects of drinking green tea. This means that there is no problem with drinking green tea for the possible benefits. In order to ensure that the polyphenols are drawn out of the tea leaves, green tea should be brewed from between three and five minutes.