Enhanced Metabolism – Green tea will help you lose weight, according to the University of Birmingham and the University of Geneva. The reason is because of the unique type of antioxidants in the tea and has less to do with the caffeine content, which is not as strong as coffee. In both studies, the tea increased the rate of metabolism, improved insulin sensitivity and improved glucose tolerance. These were clinical trials based on research that had already been published.
Lowers Stress – Green tea lowers stress in a strange way. It is not just that drinking something warm reduces stress, as other research has shown about other hot drinks. It contains a unique chemical, known as theanine which is a psychoactive drug shown to create a calm, alert mood and works with caffeine to achieve this. There is also something soothing about sipping tea, we might add.
Helps Avoid Cognitive Damage – Drinking green tea can reduce your risk for an array of cognitive issues you may face in old age. It is unclear what causes this reduced risk but it is not merely the caffeine because coffee did not show a similar reduction except at the highest intake levels and then it only reduced the risks by 20%, compared with nearly 40% by green tea. This was the result of a UCLA study which monitored participants for 14 years.
Fights Bad Breath – Green tea may make you live longer but it can also help you live better. It’s antimicrobial properties help to fight bad breath according to the University of Illinois. The way this works seems to have something to do with the antimicrobial properties of the tea. The next time you drink a cup, think about how much better the people around you will feel as well.
It Lowers Cholesterol – Green tea fights the bad cholesterol according to studies performed in the Netherlands and Japan. In both studies it increased fat oxidation which helped to increase metabolism. This helped to reduce the bad form of cholesterol (LDL) which would have an impact on heart disease as well as diabetes. The rate at which it lowered these depended on the amount of green tea the participants drank.