Green tea has long had many health benefits associated with it and its curative properties have been used in Chinese medicine for thousands of years.

Green tea, black tea and oolong tea are all made with the leaves of the Camellia sinensis bush. Green tea is made from unfermented leaves and is reputed to contain the highest concentration of polyphenols, chemicals that act as powerful antioxidants. The more the leaves are fermented, the lower the polyphenol content and the higher the caffeine content. Tea polyphenols are classified as catechins and green tea contains six primary catechin compounds: catechin, gallaogatechin, epicatechin, epigallocatechin, epicatechin gallate, and epigallocatechin gallate (also known as EGCG). EGCG is considered to be the most active component in green tea and is the best researched of all the green tea polyphenols.

Several studies have suggested that green tea and green tea extract have cancer-fighting abilities, possibly because the tea’s concentration of antioxidants such as EGCG help minimize the cell damage that can lead to cancer.

A recent study conducted at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota has demonstrated the benefits of green tea in adult sufferers of leukemia. EGCG (the key antioxidant in green tea) has been shown to kill cancer cells taken from leukaemia patients and put in a test tube.

Doctors at the clinic reported that four patients had started using green tea on their own last year, after hearing media reports about its health benefits. All four patients had CLL (chronic lymphocytic leukemia). In the months after they started drinking green tea or taking green tea extracts, three of them showed measurable improvements in their condition. The fourth patient who did not show an improvement in her cancer overall, still exhibited an increase in her white blood cell count.

In one case, a patient had been showing progressive swelling in her lymph nodes before she starting taking green tea capsules twice a day. Swelling of the lymph nodes is one of the characteristic symptoms of CLL. However, over the next year the patient’s lymph nodes steadily reduced in size.

Other research has come up with an explanation for why regular green tea drinkers have a low incidence of gastric and oesophageal cancers. Researchers have found that EGCG, the anti-cancer compound in green tea, works in a similar way to the anti-cancer drug methotrexate. Both work by blocking the enzyme dihydrofolate reductase, which is essential to the growth of tumour cells. However, the benefit of EGCG over methotrexate is that it has far fewer side effects.

The same study also showed that blocking the dihydrofolate reductase enzyme lowers folic acid levels. This side effect could explain the increased risk of birth defects and explains why some studies suggest green tea increases the risk of birth defects such as spina bifida. However, in a study conducted at Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program of Northern California in Oakland, researchers found that women who drank more than one half cup of caffeinated green tea every day doubled their odds of conceiving. Women seeking to conceive or who are already pregnant are advised to consult their medical practitioner about the risks associated with drinking green tea.

If you want to look and feel younger without prescription drugs or surgery something as simple as adding green tea to your diet may be an effective option. This very simple yet effective and tasty drink may very well reverse some of the more visible signs of aging!

Studies have indicated that green tea’s powerful combination of biological compounds, called polyphenols which has a subgroup called ”catechins” are extremely effective at destroying free radicals which can help reverse the aging process.

The most powerful of these catechins is a compound called EGCG. This is a natural antioxidant found in green tea or green tea extract which has 25-100 times the potency of vitamin C or E.

Here is one very interesting example. There is strong evidence supporting the notion that drinking green tea may reduce the risk of neurodegenerative disease such as Alzheimer’s.

Healthy cells exposed to “amlyoid”, a protein highly linked to Alzheimer’s, rapidly died ( a condition called “cell death” ) due to the high toxicity of this protein. On the other hand, cells exposed to amlyoid and then exposed to green tea extracts containing catechins survived.

These amazing findings are too powerful to be ignored and give strong support to the notion that consuming green tea or green tea extract may reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.

There are many other anti-aging benefits related to drinking green tea such as: Reducing age spots, clarifying the skin, protecting against the suns UV rays, lowering LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol)…

More good news! There is no real downside to moderate sensible tea consumption. Green tea does contain caffine, which could be related to insomnia, anxiety, or other symptoms caused by the caffeine content naturally present in green tea.

A recommended dosage would be 300-400 mg of polyphenols daily to fully realize the anti-aging properties of green tea or green tea extract. One cup beverage contains about 50-100 mg of polyphenols, depending on the quantity and quality of tea leaves used.

Compared to most artificially sweetend, overly processed and overpriced beverages out there today, you can’t find a more healthy substance to put into your body than green tea. With every enjoyable cup you’re doing your mind and body a favor - slowing the aging process the easy way!