Why drink green tea? Who knows how many have asked themselves this... Of course, fruit herbal teas are much tastier, with their strong and enveloping flavour, they are also easier to prepare since the water only needs to come to the boil. But green tea remains something unique, not to be given up and this is because it is a true concentrate of healthy properties. So, the answer to the initial question is immediately given. Green tea is an elixir of youth and health. And every month new studies are added offering more information on what green tea can do for us. Today we analyze three studies, all published in recent months, which allow us to understand once again why it is important to drink green tea, even every day.
Green tea against dementia
The first research was published in the journal Peer J thanks to the work of a Chinese team (Jiang et al, PeerJ, 2023). Scientists compared and analyzed the results of previous studies, for a total of 410,951 people involved, to understand whether green tea can have a neuroprotective action. Well, what has emerged is that drinking green tea is considered one of the protective factors against the development of Alzheimer's and dementia. In particular, tea intake led to a reduction of up to 30% in the risk of developing dementia and neurodegeneration. The benefits of tea on a brain level have been observed even in the presence of factors that can instead increase the risk of getting ill, such as advanced age, cigarette smoking and a sedentary lifestyle. Research indicates that black tea also shows neuroprotective properties, but also adds that, based on some studies, green tea is the best choice due to its more effective action. The neuroprotective action of tea can be traced back to its capacity to counteract free radicals and to prevent the formation of beta amyloid plaques. Be careful though, a very important consideration emerges from the study. We are often led to think that, if something is healthy, we can obtain many more benefits by consuming it in large quantities. As for green tea's ability to counteract dementia, this is not the case. The recommended amount of green tea to observe neuroprotective benefits is 2-4 8-ounce cups per day. Exceeding this recommendation does not cause harm to health, but it has been observed that tea may partially lose its neuroprotective effect.
Green tea for women's health
The second research was published in the journal Nutrients by an American team from the prestigious Johns Hopkins Medicine center (Hazimeh et al, Nutrients, 2023). The study focuses on the benefits of green tea regarding female health. Green tea helps both before and after menopause. In fact, this drink helps alleviate the symptoms related to uterine fibroids and improves endometriosis, thanks to its anti-fibrotic and anti-angiogenic action. In addition, green tea reduces pain in dysmenorrhea and counteracts polycystic ovary syndrome. During menopause, green tea, thanks to its main antioxidant, epigallocatechin gallate, counteracts osteoporosis, weight gain and the accumulation of fat, especially visceral fat.
Tea and kidneys
The third study was published in the Journal of global health by a Chinese team (Liu et al, J Glob Health, 2023). In this case, the research focused on general tea consumption, both green and black, and kidney health. What has emerged is that those who drink tea, all types of tea, as long as the tea is unsweetened, have a lower chance of developing chronic kidney disease than those who do not drink tea. The protective action can be traced back to the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of tea. Not only that, tea improves the lipid profile, reducing triglycerides and bad LDL cholesterol and increasing good HDL cholesterol. Well, it is believed that this is also a mechanism by which tea protects the kidneys since dysfunctions of lipid metabolism are considered one of the risk factors for the development of kidney disease.
Conclusions
Today's article offers three more reasons to drink green tea, in addition to its well-known anti-aging, anti-diabetic, antiviral, cardioprotective and anti-tumor properties. As we have seen, even in this case moderation is important, so let's drink green tea without excess, up to a maximum of 4 cups of 250 ml per day. We remind you that green tea, to preserve its antioxidant content, is prepared by adding the dried leaves to water brought to a temperature of 60-70° C. Then leave to infuse for 10 minutes, filter and drink.
