THIS IS WHY YOU SHOULD BE DRINKING GREEN TEA
Never a coffee drinker myself, tea has always been my holy grail. And although I'd always heard that green tea is the best for you, I never wanted to add sugar to my drinks, and green tea just tasted terribly bitter (although still better than coffee, I still can't drink that). And so I'd enjoy all types of black tea, earl greys with a lot of milk, and if I feeling like I especially deserved spoiling, it'd be some vanilla milk tea. It tastes like desert.
However, once I stopped drinking milk, I was right back at square one. Black tea tasted horrible. And I really couldn't say how I actually started drinking green tea, but I ended up having about 4 a day. And this is why the more I learnt about green tea, the more I made myself stick to this habit:
Green tea is rich in polyphenols and reduces growth of new vessels needed for cancer growth. It is a powerful antioxidant and detoxifier, facilitates death of cancer cells by apoptosis, enhances death by radiotherapy.
POLYPHENOLS
Micronutrients we can get through plant-based foods. In plants tissues, they serve different functions, such as regulating growth hormones, signalling the growth process, deference of herbivores and prevention of microbial infections. Their function in the human body has been long debated, and there are actually few studies that do show actual ways in which they can affect us.
A recent study showed that both black and green tea may affect our gut microbiome: lowering the amount of bacteria associated with obesity and increasing those associated with lean body mass.
ANTIOXIDANTS
By definition are molecules that inhibit the oxidation of other molecules. But why is oxidation bad in the first place? Oxidation is a chemical reaction that may produce free radicals, highly reactive particles that can cause chain reactions, ultimately damaging the cell's genetic material and therefore risking our health. The polyphenols in green tea can have antioxidant properties, which may account for the positive effects seen in green tea drinkers.
ANGIOGENESIS
Is the process by which new blood vessels are formed. Cancer cells and tumours depend on a good connection with blood vessels to supply the nutrients needed to fuel their unregulated growth. It is therefore suggested, and observed both in vivo and in vitro, that inhibiting angiogenesis can lead to decreased tumour growth. What is interesting, is that it has been found that the main active component of green tea, EGCG, can decrease the levels of angiogenic factor bFGF, basic fibroblast growth factor in cells, which is essential in new blood vessel formation. This could explain the anti-cancer effects observed in green tea drinkers.
Japanese green tea is the richest. It must be seeped for at least 5-8 minutes before drinking, ideally for 10 minutes to release it catechises. Try to drink non-stored tea, 6 cups a day (even if it is decaffeinated).