Green tea: A traditional health drink

Chinese have long since recognized the benefits of green tea, leaves from the plant Camellia sinensis; it has been used as a medicine about 4000 years ago. Koreans, too, incorporate drinking green tea into their daily lives. Green tea, as believed traditionally and spiritually, cleanses the body and gives a calming and soothing experience.

As a morning-coffee people, Filipinos are only just being familiarized with green tea because of endless commercials of bottled tea.

Green tea is a miracle tea, and this is not an overstatement. Health researchers have found not one thing harmful about drinking green tea daily, except sleep difficulty from green tea’s small dose of caffeine.

However, generally speaking, green tea is all health to the mind and body.

First of all, green tea is a powerful antioxidant. It is rich in catechin polyphenols, in particular, epigallocatechin gallate (more commonly known as EGCG). EGCG inhibits cancer cell growth without affecting the healthy tissues in the body.

Harvard conducted a scientific study on the benefits of green tea. iVIllage lists the beauty benefits of green tea.

It also improves metabolism and helps in keeping weight balance.  It lowers cholesterol and high blood pressure, helps against heart and cardiovascular diseases, boosts the immune system, protects lungs from smoking and liver from alcohol, and rehydrates and rejuvenates the body.

Aside from this, Chinese are known to drink green tea to cure headache and depression. Like I said, drinking green tea has a calming effect on the body.

So you probably got overwhelmed with all those facts like I did when I first read them. But here’s the bottom line, green tea is healthy. A few Asian and European countries have known and harvested from these knowledge many years before, and the Internet and television have made this information available to us.

Don't like the taste of green tea? See how to improve its taste.