There are many green tea benefits; in fact it is one of the top foods for providing health benefits. Tea has been used for thousands of years for its health benefits and it was first used in China about 4, 000 years ago. A lot of research has been conducted to determine why green tea is so good for you. Drinking green teas has been found to help high cholesterol levels, arthritis, cancer, infection and cardiovascular disease.

The important active ingredient in green leaf teas are the catechin polyphenols, the most important being epigallocatechin gallate. This is a powerful antioxidant that can stop cancer cells from growing; it lowers LDL cholesterol levels and can stop blood clots from forming. In particular this antioxidant kills cancer cells and leaves the healthy cells alone.

Green tea health benefits have normally been related to the French paradox, or the health benefits of drinking red wine. As with tea, red wine has polyphenols and antioxidants that are very beneficial to the heart. However epigallocatechin gallate has been found to be much more powerful than the polyphenols found in red wine. Read the rest of this entry