Six health benefits of drinking more green tea

Monday, January 27, 2014 by: Josh Anderson
Tags: green tea, health benefits, disease prevention

(NaturalNews) Although green tea is one of the most popular drinks in the entire world, its consumption has quickly become one of the biggest health trends, and for good reason. By simply consuming more green tea, you can possibly improve your overall health. These six health benefits of green tea may convince you to increase your consumption:

1. Green tea can lower your risk of stroke
In a massive (over 83,000 adults surveyed) Japanese study published in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association, the more green tea that the participants of the study consumed over the course of 13 years, the less likely they were to have a stroke. The study illustrated that, by drinking two to three cups of green tea a day, you decrease your chance of stroke by 14%. By drinking four cups a day, the chance of stroke drops by 20%.

2. Green tea compounds can interrupt Alzheimer's disease
Purified extracts of antioxidant epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) from green tea has been shown by the University of Leeds to disrupt harmful clumps of protein from latching onto brain cells, causing them to die and interrupting the progression of Alzheimer's disease. Although the study used purified extract from green tea, you can still get some of the same benefits from drinking green tea and the associated EGCG.

3. Green tea can prevent eye disease
A study published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry demonstrated that the EGCG found in green tea can prevent eye disease by being absorbed by the eye tissue (like the lens and retina), which protects the overall integrity of the eye. EGCG has been shown to prevent or stop the growth of malignant cancer cells.

4. Green tea can prevent and block lung cancer
Research out of Chung Shan Medical University in Taiwan has demonstrated that drinking at least one cup of green tea a day can decrease your risk of lung cancer. The study indicated that, among non-smokers, those who did not drink at least one cup of green tea a day were five times more likely to develop lung cancer.

5. Green tea compounds can prevent leukemia
Compounds within green tea can prevent leukemia, suggests a study by the Mayo Clinic. By treating chronic lymphocytic leukemia patients with 400 and 2,000 milligrams of EGCG twice a day, the researchers were able to significantly improve their condition. Likewise, a 2004 study indicated that EGCG can actually kill leukemia cells!

6. Green tea can improve your memory
Research from the Third Military Medical University in China reaffirmed that the EGCG within green tea helps promote the regeneration of brain cells, improving your memory and spatial learning. The research indicated that, although green tea drinkers tend to be healthier with respect to nutrition, green tea was one of the main factors to influence memory. While green tea can prevent protein clumps from causing Alzheimer's, it can also improve your memory at the same time through brain cell regeneration.

The simple act of drinking green tea can have astounding health effects. Although some of these studies used green tea extracts or compounds, you can still get many of the added health attributes by consuming green tea daily; it seems as though the more you drink, the better it is for you! Being one of the most widely studied substances in the world, there are bound to be many new revelations about the health benefits of green tea in the future.

Sources for this article include:

http://www.sciencedaily.com

http://www.sciencedaily.com

http://www.naturalnews.com

http://www.naturalnews.com

http://www.naturalnews.com

http://www.naturalnews.com

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