Green tea has excellent medicinal properties and affords significant health benefits; it has been used as medicine for hundreds of years. It has its roots in China; and is widely used all over the world, given that; the beverage has a host of uses – from reducing blood pressure to weight management to warding off cancer.
Black tea is processed in a way which permits fermentation, whilst green tea processing does not involve fermentation. Thus, green tea preserves the highest amount of antioxidants and poly-phenols; and it is these compounds that impart the wonderful health benefits to green tea.
What Are The Health Benefits Of Green Tea?
Green tea is decidedly beneficial for your health; it proffers a host of benefits and helps keep most diseases at bay.
Weight Loss and detox is the most vital benefit of green tea. Green tea increases the rate of metabolism and thus helps shed weight rapidly; it also works on the liver, helping to detoxify it.
Green tea is known to help regulate blood glucose levels, and slowing down a sudden escalation of blood sugar after eating.
Experts say that green tea works beneficially on the lining of blood vessels, keeping them relaxed and more importantly, it also helps them to endure fluctuations in the blood pressure better. The beverage may also stave off atherosclerosis and clot formation, the chief reason for the development of heart attacks.
Benefits Of Green Tea For Fatty Liver
The liver is the largest and one of the most vital internal organs in the body. It has several significant and essential roles to play – getting rid of noxious wastes and toxins from the blood and converting food to fuel. Fatty liver occurs when the liver starts accumulating fat. It is a reversible condition, and is very commonly seen in alcoholics. On the other hand, is may also develop in non alcoholics.
It is normal for the liver to contain some amount of fat, conversely if 5 – 10 % of the liver’s weight is fat, you have fatty liver disease. Risk factors for fatty liver include – high cholesterol, diabetes mellitus and being overweight. A small percentage of people having fatty liver may develop a more serious condition called non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, which results in severe inflammation and damage to the liver tissue.
Green tea is known to exert a favorable effect on the liver and help deal with the symptoms of fatty liver better; thereby, preventing an aggravation. Among the beneficial compounds and agents present in green tea, epigallocatechin-3-gallate or EGCG is widely known to be beneficial. It is part of polyphenols, and has powerful antioxidant effects on the liver, protecting the hepatocytes or liver cells from further damage. These potent antioxidants present in green tea scavenge out the harmful free radicals and annihilate them.
Studies, research and clinical trials have revealed that EGCG can help reverse fatty liver disease and decrease the inflammation and damage to a great extent. 1 cup of green tea supplies you with 50 – 150 mg of polyphenols, thus, drink 2 – 3 cups daily to get noteworthy benefits to help the liver function optimally.