Benefits of Green Tea For Weight Loss, Cholesterol and Health

Green tea benefits have been researched and documented extensively due to their possible role in boosting the body's immune system and fighting heart disease and cancer.

What is green tea extract and what are the health benefits?

The extract comes from the leaves of the tea plant, Cammelia sinsenis. It is made up of chemicals called catechins, of which epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) is the most abundant. EGCG is a powerful antioxidant and believed to be where the therapeutic value lies.

Research has yielded numerous health benefits of green tea, and as such it has gained enormous popularity in recent years. It is a staple of Japanese meals and it is popular in the United States and elsewhere in the world brewed hot, as a cold drink and also in stand alone and more comprehensive herbal supplements.

Four Major Green Tea Benefits to Consider

1) Lowering LDL cholesterol - Studies have shown that green tea lowers the amount of low density lipoproteins (LDLs) in the blood stream. LDLs are responsible for the buildup of plaque in the arteries that could lead to heart disease.

2) Promoting Weight Loss - Research has shown that the extract increases the body's thermogenesis, the generation of body heat, which in turn burns the calories and fat needed to lose weight.

3) Guarding Against Cancer - Studies point to green tea extract's ability to neutralize free radicals, chemicals that could damage cells. The extracts could also limit cell replication, which is the main feature of cancer.

4) Promoting General Health - Green tea extract contains powerful antioxidants that can help boost the body's immune system and protect against illness and disease.

New studies are being conducted all the time to determine if green tea/EGCG has any positive effects on other health conditions such as chronic fatigue, endometriosis, viruses like herpes, flu, hepatitis and HIV. 

Although more research needs to be done to prove any of these benefits conclusively, most of them have been positive and it safe to conclude that drinking green tea regularly or taking a good supplement is probably a good idea.

Should you drink green tea or take a supplement?

We get asked this question all of the time. Drinking the brewed tea is a good start, but the problem is that many of the products on the market, especially the cold drinks, have been shown to not contain enough or in some cases any EGCG in them. So if there isn't a lot of EGCG, you're really not getting any of the benefits.

If you're able to find high quality tea leaves/bags at the market or specialty store, and you drink it regularly, that's a better way to go about it. The Snapple or Arizona green tea drinks...those aren't going to help you out in any way.

An even better idea is to take a high quality supplement that contains standardized green tea extract. That's the highest quality leaves you can find, and you can be sure that the important components are intact.

You might be asking why not just take a single ingredient green tea supplement rather than one with other ingredients? That's a great question. Here's why:

Many herbal extracts, vitamins, minerals and other nutrients work together synergistically, meaning they enhance the effects of each other. For example, green tea can work together with other herbs such as ginger and olive leaf to help lower your cholesterol. Vitamin E works in conjunction with Vitamin C in a similar fashion.

Also, different extracts can offer complementary benefits to specific systems. Take your cardiovascular system for example. Green tea can prevent blood vessel constriction, while CoQ10 can protect your heart and vitamin E can prevent free radical damage.

So instead of just getting the benefits of green tea extract, you are getting the benefits of the other herbs, vitamins, and minerals present. That's why a multi-nutrient supplement is a better option for you.

An Ideal Green Tea Supplement

It's important to realize that many different herbs, vitamins and nutrients actually work better and provide more health benefits when they are taken together, rather than alone as a single ingredient supplement.

So although you can certainly take a green tea supplement, you may be better off taking a multi-ingredient supplement that can enhance and improve upon the benefits you are getting from green tea.

A high quality multi-vitamin will provide that for you, so you can get gren tea along with a host of other important herbal extracts.

But some people may want to just try a green tea supplement and may already be taking a multi they are happy with.

So we have two recommendations for you:

Single Ingredient Green Tea:

For a wide variety of high quality green tea products including capsules, extracts, liquids, powders and teas, Starwest is the place to go online.

Multi Ingredient Green Tea Supplement:

For a more comprehensive multivitamin with green tea along with other beneficial herbs, vitamins, minerals and other nutrients take a look at Total Balance, a high quality daily supplement with the purest ingredients offering maximum health benefits.

Many of our staff as well as our visitors have been ordering from these two manufacturers for quite some time. Total Balance in particular is our core nutritional supplement, and our staff buys bulk herbs, teas and powders of all sorts for various conditions and general wellness.

As with all health products consult your physician or qualified herbal professional before taking any supplement for green tea benefits.

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