About Green Tea
Green tea comes from the Camellia sinensis plant along with oolong teas and black teas, but green tea differs in its chemical compositions because of their manufacturing process. All teas go through a heating process. However, green tea is never fermented, unlike black and oolong teas. Instead, it’s leaves bypass the fermenting process and are steamed, baked or pan heated. This is one of green teas most distinctive features. This process prevents important compounds from being oxidized which is why green tea is reputable to contain the highest concentrate oh polyphenols which are chemicals that act as powerful antioxidants.
Health Benefits
Green tea has grown in popularity because of the many health benefits associated with it. The health benefits of green tea are due to its high levels of antioxidants. The human body produces unstable oxidants which are referred to as free radicals. Free radicals occur naturally in the body but environmental toxins, including ultraviolet rays from the sun, radiation, cigarette smoke and air pollution increase radicals in the body. Antioxidants are chemical compounds which prevent oxidation of healthy cells and protect cells from free radicals. Many studies have shown that drinking green tea helps work toward the prevention of cancerous cells. For example, cancer rates tend to be lower in countries such as Japan where green tea is regularly consumed.
Green tea helps to lower bad cholesterol and help to build good cholesterol. In addition to that, it also prevent contamination of food products, kill bacteria that causes dental plaque and help prevent tooth decay. Another major attribute is the preventative action against the influenza virus infection.
Although all tea contains these antioxidants, green tea has higher concentrations of black tea or oolong tea. This may be due to the relative lack of processing that green tea undergoes, because white tea has even higher levels of antioxidants.
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