Green Tea

Green tea should definitely be a part of your martial arts practice - the sooner, the better! When you've read this article I'm confident you will see what you're missing out if you skip your daily doze.

Tea has been used for ages in China, Korea and Japan (as well as other places) for it's health benefits, as a social beverage, as a remedy for relaxation, and as a ceremonial implementation (think of the Japanese tea ceremony).

For those who prefer coffee or other beverages over tea, then you might want to consider a tea extract supplement. Maybe you're more of a modern day fighter who don't give a second thought to the traditions and cultural sides of tea drinking. Even so, you really should consider the massive health- and weight regulating factors involved!

Invigorating:

"Tea gladdens and cheers the heart" Pen ts'ao, a seventh-century, Chinese medical writer, said. The stimulating factors of green tea are basically down to these two ingredients: caffeine and L-theanine. Because there is less caffeine in tea, many feel it has a gentler - and thus better - invigorating effect than coffee.

The substance called L-theanine encourages the brain to produce alpha waves, the same types of relaxing brain waves generally occurring during meditation.

Health benefits:

This is a long list of research findings and solid evidence of various health benefits, so you might as well grab a cup of this magnificent beverage and tag along :-)

It is the antioxidants that gives tea its deservedly good name as a health drink. Tea contains solid dozes of polyphenols, antioxidant substances collectively known as catechins.

Antioxidants are substances which are able to hinder the destructive powers of what is referred to as free radicals. These free radicals are (potentially very) damaging cell molecules. Free radicals are associated with cancer by damaging the DNA which allows cells to reproduce naturally. This leads to cell mutations, which eventually may trigger malignancies (cancer).

Researchers from University of Purdue (USA), quite recently concluded that a special compound in this tea inhibits the growth of cancer cells.

But wait, there's more... (as the salesperson would say :). Apart from preventing damage to the cells, these strong antioxidants have been linked to reducing tumor sizes and inhibiting cancer cells.

The most widely studied (green) tea polyphenol - epigallocatechin gallate (or EGCG for short) - has shown to be able (to some extent) to disrupt survival signals in some types of leukemia cells. Both green and white tea have reduced tumor formation in lab experiments (from an early online edition of 'Blood', 2004; and 'Carcinogenesis', 2003; 24920:263-7).

Extract have helped reduce levels of substances which are linked to liver cancer among people with liver problems ('Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research meeting', October 2003).

A Chinese study, showed how men who drank the most tea for the longest amount of time, had an increased protection against prostate cancer. ('International Journal of Cancer', 2004:108[1]:130-5).

And the beverage or extracts hereof may even be beneficial for men even after prostate cancer has been developed. Drinking sufficient dozes green (or black) tea lowered the levels of polamines. These chemicals are associated with malignancy ('Experimental Biology', 2004). L-theanine, the relaxing agent in tea, have been used by patients to reduce anxiety and chemotherapy side effects ('Alternative Complementary Medicine', December 2003, 284-8).

To give you a perspective of how potent green (or black) tea can be: Researchers have estimated that health-bringing tea has 10 times the antioxidants found in fruits and vegetables. How about that for "an apple a day..."!

Over 4,800 individuals took part in a Dutch tea study. This study found a link between reduced risk of heart attacks and the consumption of tea ('American Journal of Clinical Nutrition', 2002; 75:880-6). An article in 'Circulation' (2002; 105:2476-81) showed researchers pointing to their findings about tea drinkers, and how they are more likely to survive heart attacks.

The scientists believed that the catechins prevented free radicals from oxidizing LDL (low-density lipoprotein). Oxidized LDL is the kind of cholesterol that may block arteries. EGCG also appears to inhibit a gene being linked to abnormal heart rhythms which can occur after heart attacks, scientists say (an article in 'Heart Rhythm Society', 2004).

It also seems that black tea may share some of the health-benefits of green tea. One study showed how the coronary (heart) arteries in 10 healthy men who drank black tea showed a greater ability to provide increased blood flow to the heart when it was needed ('American Journal of Cardiology', 2004;93[11]:1384-8).

One study from Japan ('Annals of Epidemiology', 2000;10:4018), showed that increases in consumption of tea were linked to reductions in arterial narrowing among men who didn't have diabetes.

Another study, named "Green tea consumption and cognitive function: a cross-sectional study from the Tsurugaya Project" was released in the 'American Journal of Clinical Nutrition' in February, 2006.

This study was by a group of Japanese scientists from The Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine (in Sendai). As the report says, he objective was "to examine the association between green tea consumption and cognitive function in humans".

The conclusion to the study, which involved 1003 Japanese people aged in their 70s or older, was that a higher green tea consumption would be associated with a lower prevalence of cognitive impairment in humans. In short: It's good for your gray matter :-)

Tea antioxidants may help with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), a condition which is caused by immune system attacks on joint tissue. In one laboratory experiment, mice that were given green tea extracts were less likely to develop a rheumatoid arthritis-like condition. Mice that already suffered from the disorder were found to developed less severe forms. It was pointed out by the researchers that people living in countries with a high consumption of green tea, less frequently suffer the condition ('Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences' 1999; 96[8]: 4524 -9).

It has been shown that tea extract also helps toughens bone structure. A survey of more than 1,200 women found that tea drinkers had denser hipbones - bones that was more resistant to fracture. This was especially true when they added milk or other calcium sources to the equation ('American Journal of Clinical Nutrition', 2000; 71[4]: 1003-7).

Green tea is included in a number of health and beauty products,. Skin cells are being said to be rejuvenated by green tea compounds, and oolong tea has been known to help some people who suffers from a type of stubborn allergic reaction called atopic dermatitis ('Archives of Dermatology', 2001'137:42-3).

Last, but not least - washing your mouth (even if you haven't been a naughty girl or boy :) Both white and green tea help kill germs which cause cavity. The tradition of having green tea for oral health after meals in China and Japan supports these findings.

A perfect substance for weight loss!:

Let us not forget that green tea is also a fantastic remedy for people who need to lose weight or control their weight.

T. Nagao and others reported about his findings in 'American Journal of Clinical Nutrition' (2005;81:122-129). His group showed how extracts from green tea resulted in an increase - even a significant one - in a measure of metabolism called 'energy expenditure'. These extracts also had a significant effect on what is called oxidation of fat.

The researchers originally believed that some of the effects were to be due to the content of caffeine in green tea. However, they discovered that green tea had properties that went beyond those that could be used to explain the caffeine effect.

To learn more about weight loss with green tea, and how tea is made, visit my Squidoo lense here!

Here's another nice page about (Korean) tea tradition: Tea and taekwondo go hand in hand.

The oolong tea alternative:

Quite a number of people find green tea too much of an acquired taste - a little bit too much 'grassy'. A great alternative is the famous oolong (or wulong) type of oriental tea.

On this site Buy Oolong Tea, you can read more about this wonderful, healthy and tasty alternative to green tea and learn more about oolong tea benefits. As a martial arts student or teacher you owe it to yourself to drink either green tea or oolong tea!

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