What Happens to Your Body When You Drink Green Tea

Green tea has been used as a natural remedy for thousands of years. Learn why drinking green tea is so beneficial for your body and mind!

Drinking green tea has been beneficial for health, especially when consumed regularly. The antioxidants found in green tea help boost metabolism, reduce the risk of heart disease, prevent cancer, and support weight loss.

Social media has made green tea popular among health-conscious Instagrammers, who claim it cures everything from acne to cancer! Green tea has some incredible health benefits, but there are also some common myths about its effects on the human body that need to be clarified. Here’s why drinking green tea isn’t a cure-all for every ailment.

Green Tea Diet – Facts & Myths

What are green tea’s health benefits? What does green tea do for your body? If you’re interested in drinking green tea as a part of your diet, it helps to know how it affects your body. Read on for a breakdown of how drinking green tea can benefit your health.

Drinking green tea has been linked with various health benefits, from improved heart and bone health to better brain function. The wide range of benefits of green tea can be attributed to its powerful antioxidants and healthy compounds.

Research shows that drinking a cup of green tea helps boost metabolism, improves brain function, and fights off cancer. Drinking green tea has been shown to help prevent cardiovascular diseases and act as an anti-inflammatory. If you’re looking for a way to improve your health, adding green tea into the mix is a great place to start. Keep reading to learn more about some of the green tea’s health benefits.

What Is Green Tea Made Of?

The tea plant (Camellia sinensis) is indigenous to Asia and is related to hibiscus, jasmine, and dandelion. It has been used medicinally for thousands of years. Green tea is made by steaming unfermented leaves at high temperatures, which stops them from oxidizing and turning brown. The result is a rich-tasting green tea with more antioxidants than black or oolong teas.

Green tea leaves are rich in an antioxidant called epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG). Research has shown may help protect against chronic diseases like heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.

Green tea also contains high levels of catechins, flavonoids found to boost metabolism and support fat burning.

Catechins may be particularly beneficial for people with metabolic syndrome, a condition characterized by abdominal obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and insulin resistance.

Is Green Tea Allowed During Fasting?

Green tea is considered a caffeinated beverage. It is a stimulant, like coffee and other caffeinated beverages. For those on a spiritual fast or an ayurvedic cleanse, it’s essential to know whether or not green tea should be avoided during fasting. The answer depends on whether you are taking your fast for religious purposes or purely for health reasons.

Many religions that practice fasting allow green tea because it does not contain caffeine, found in coffee and black tea. Drinking green tea on a fast day is considered acceptable for fasting for religious purposes. But since green tea contains caffeine, those fasting for health reasons should avoid it altogether.

The caffeine in green tea can cause anxiety and insomnia, two side effects that can become major problems during a fast. Coffee, black tea, energy drinks, and caffeinated sodas are not allowed fast because they all contain caffeine. Since green tea also contains caffeine, it should be avoided on fasting days. 

How Does It Affect Blood Sugar Levels?

Green tea contains polyphenols, a type of antioxidant. These polyphenols, such as epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), can act as antioxidants in your body and help rid you of free radicals. Free radicals are damaging molecules that occur when your body breaks down food or is exposed to pollutants like cigarette smoke or UV rays from sunlight. Antioxidants bind with these free radicals, preventing them from attacking healthy cells in your body. This helps prevent chronic diseases like cancer and heart disease.

Some studies show that EGCG from green tea can help slow down blood sugar absorption. In other words, your body takes longer to digest food after you drink green tea, and sugar in your bloodstream rises more slowly. The result is that your body doesn’t react as quickly or intensely when you eat foods with a high glycemic index (GI). High GI foods are those that cause your blood sugar levels to rise sharply after eating, such as white bread and potatoes.

Researchers had participants with type 2 diabetes either drink EGCG from green tea or a placebo every day for eight weeks in one study. At the end of eight weeks, those who drank green tea daily had lower fasting blood sugar and hemoglobin A1c levels than those who drank only water. Hemoglobin A1c is a form of hemoglobin that is often used to measure blood sugar control over some time.

The Effects of Green Tea on Cardiovascular Health

Green tea is rich in antioxidants, which help lower cholesterol levels and maintain healthy blood pressure. Research has found that drinking four cups of green tea a day reduces LDL (bad) cholesterol by 5% and systolic blood pressure by 6 mmHg.

Green tea is also linked with reducing cancer risk, including cancers of the esophagus, stomach, pancreas, and colon. Research has found that drinking two or more cups of green tea per day is associated with a 14% reduced risk of developing liver cancer.

Green tea may also aid in weight loss. A study conducted at Boston University School of Medicine discovered that mice fed a high-fat diet supplemented with green tea extract and caffeine had reduced obesity and lower cholesterol compared with control groups.

A Detailed Look at the Effect of Green Tea on Weight Loss

Drinking green tea gives your body a metabolic boost that helps it burn more fat. Studies have shown that drinking green tea helps increase levels of norepine­phrine, which triggers fat cell breakdown. Adiponectin, which increases metabolism and helps regulate blood glucose, is produced by fat cells. Animal studies have shown that EGCG, which is found in green tea, slows aging and reduces the risk of heart disease and some cancers. Caffeine in green tea can help boost your metabolism and improve exercise endurance.

Green tea contains caffeine, and drinking large amounts of caffeine can cause many side effects, such as nervousness, irritability, sleeplessness, and occasionally rapid heartbeat. According to one study, long-term use of green tea is safe for healthy people; however, another study says that people who take medications or have certain medical conditions should be cautious about using green tea for weight loss.

Green tea also may have some downsides. Although few studies have examined caffeine’s effect on pregnancy, plenty of research shows that excessive caffeine consumption is linked to low birth weight and an increased risk of premature birth. Furthermore, people prone to urinary tract infections should steer clear: EGCG can worsen these infections by weakening your body’s defenses against them.

Can I Use Green Tea Extract For Weight Loss?

Green tea extract is an herbal supplement often used as an effective weight loss supplement. Drinking green tea is full of healthy benefits, and drinking it in moderate amounts can help improve your health. However, there isn’t any evidence that green tea extract helps specifically with weight loss or provides any health benefits. It would help if you always talked to your doctor before starting any new weight loss program. 

Green tea extract is derived from green tea, which is a herbal plant that’s also known as Camellia sinensis. Green tea leaves contain several natural substances called polyphenols or flavonoids. These compounds are catechins, specifically epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG).

In 2012 researchers found EGCG reduced body fat and increased muscle mass in lab mice fed a high-fat diet.

However, there’s little evidence that green tea extract effectively affects weight loss in humans. A 2013 review of 12 studies with over 1,000 participants concluded that green tea extract supplements don’t work better than a placebo (i.e., they aren’t more effective than taking a dummy pill).

Green tea consumption

The American Heart Association recommends consuming no more than 3 cups of coffee per day. But if you like the taste of coffee, then drink it — limit yourself to three cups a week. And while we’re not saying that you need to cut back on your daily intake of water, we do recommend sticking to half your body weight in ounces. So if you weigh 150 pounds, stick to 75 oz of H2O each day.

Start slowly if you want to try green teas as part of a healthy lifestyle. According to studies, people who drink four to 5 cups of green tea cups per dai­ly tend to lose weight more than those who consume one cup. However, it’s worth noting that these results come from observations. 

How to Lose Weight With Green Tea

To get the most benefit from green tea, drink it unsweetened. One small study published in Nutrition & Metabolism showed that when overweight adults drank 4 cups of green tea each day, their waist circumference dropped by nearly 2 inches after two months. That’s compared to those who drank a placebo beverage.

Green tea is packed with antioxidants that help protect your heart, but drinking too much could gain weight. To avoid this problem, keep your cup size under six ounces. 

This antioxidant-rich brew will fill you up without any calories, but it won’t leave you feeling bloated or regretful at dinnertime. Just remember to moderate your caffeine intake — too much of the stuff can lead to jitters and headaches that might cancel out the belly-filling perks.

Green tea may help you lose weight because it contains L-theanine, an amino acid that makes your brain less stressed and, therefore, calmer. Researchers believe that when you consume enough green tea to reach a certain concentration level, the amount of caffeine present becomes irrelevant.

Green tea may help you burn fat. According to research, people who regularly have green tea experience lower levels of inflammation, which means that they can use their bodies more efficiently. This allows them to reduce fat stores and increase metabolic rate.

Green tea has been proven to help boost metabolism, so you’ll burn more calories during exercise. Plus, it can make you feel fuller longer, meaning you eat fewer overall calories.

Good To Know

Green tea contains catechins and flavonoids, which can help prevent cell damage that could otherwise lead to cancer. The healthy compounds in green tea also reduce bad cholesterol (LDL) levels while increasing levels of good cholesterol (HDL). And studies have shown that drinking green tea regularly may lower your risk for other health problems, including stroke, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes.

Green tea is also high in antioxidants, which can help fight free radicals in your body. Free radicals are rogue molecules that float around and damage healthy cells as they try to steal electrons from them. The antioxidants in green tea prevent these cells from becoming damaged and may even protect against cell damage that can lead to cancer.

The antioxidants in green tea may also help reduce inflammation throughout your body. Chronic inflammation is associated with many health problems, including heart disease and cancer. Regularly drinking green tea may help protect you from developing chronic inflammation over time.

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