
Antioxidant Benefits From Drinking Green Tea
Oxygen is one of the essential elements that are
needed by all the members who belong to the
animal kingdom. Oxygen is an element that is
present in the air and is responsible for triggering
the burning of fat and glucose in order to provide
the body with its necessary supply of energy and
heat. However essential it may be, oxygen unfor-
tunately also has some effects that are negative.
During the oxidation process, free radicals, which
are highly reactive byproducts, are produced.
When other molecules interact with these free
radicals they themselves get turned into free
radicals and their normal functioning gets
disrupted. Eventually this could lead to massive
tissue damage and cell destruction. It could even
lead to the incidence of degenerative diseases
including rheumatoid arthritis, Alzheimer’s disease,
cancer, artherosclerosis, Parkinson’s disease and heart disease.
Fortunately for us the human body is naturally equipped with defenses that work to prevent the harmful
effects of these free radical compounds. Antioxidants are chemical substances that are naturally present
in vegetables as well as fruit. These antioxidants hunt down free radicals and act on them. This causes
the free radicals to get neutralized and stops their rampage and the damage they do to the body’s
healthy cells, thus preventing or decreasing the incidence of disease.
Antioxidant Effects of Plants
Camellia sinensis is one of many plants that are known to contain a high level of disease-fighting
antioxidants. This plant is sometimes also called the tea plant. Chinese households have been serving
tea as a healthy beverage for hundreds of years in order to promote general well being and good
health. Green tea in particular is very popular because of the many remarkable health benefits it
provides.
Green tea is very popular in Japan, India. Thailand and China where people have been drinking it for
years. Green tea has been used as one of the ingredients in many traditional Indian as well as Chinese
medicines. Green tea is used in medicine as a:
* Stimulant
* Astringent- it helps wounds to heal and also controls bleeding
* Diuretic- promotes urine excretion
* Agent that improves health of the heart.
The benefits derived from green tea are believed
to be largely due to the polycatechins that are
present in it. These polycatechins have very power-
ful and highly effective antioxidant effects. Other
than polycatechins there are many other ingred-
ients present that contribute to the antioxidant
properties of green tea.
The Antioxidant Properties of Green Tea
The antioxidant properties and effects of green tea
are due to the presence of powerful polyphenolic
antioxidants, also known as catechins. The other
substances that give green tea its antioxidant
properties include Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Vitamin A
and tannin. Green tea also has powerful neuro-
protective, anti-carcinogenic, anti-microbial and
cardio-protective properties.
Epigallocatechin gallate, which is an especially bioactive catechin, has been identified by many scientists
as particularly important because its antioxidant effects have been linked to cancer prevention.
Extensive studies have been done on cell division in the human body and these show that cells can
divide for a certain fixed number of times during the lifetime of a human being. Based on these studies
scientists have concluded that most of the cells in the body will have finished using about 50% of their
quota of cell-divisions by the time a person reaches the age of 20. Furthermore, by the time a person
reaches the age of 40, the cells will have used up about 70% of their cell-division quota and have just
30% remaining. This explains why a person undergoes the physical changes that they do on the outside
as well as the inside of the body as they age.
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