Green Tea for Healthy Aging

By Dexter Yarbrough. Green tea is a beneficial drink that helps to ensure that we live healthier as we age. All of us are getting older, but natural products help us to age well. People have been brewing tea for about 5000 years. After water, tea is the most popularly consumed beverage around the world. North Americans, North Africans and Europeans mainly drink black tea. Green tea is popular in China and Taiwan.

All true "teas" are produced from the leaves of the tropical evergreen plant, Camellia Sinensis. So as not to bore you with the technicalities, I will try and make this simple. When tea leaves are converted into black tea, the harvested leaves are allowed to ferment before and while drying. This is an oxidation process that changes both the color of the leaves and the nature of their phytochemical contents. In contrast, the leaves for green tea are steamed to prevent oxidation and phytonutrient change during drying.

Phytonutrients are nutrients derived from plant material that have been shown to be necessary for sustaining human life. Brewed hot tea contains the largest amount of phytonutrients, "instant" teas have lost about 80% of their phytonutrients and "iced" and other ready-to drink tea products contain even less. It is important to be aware of this because even though drinking tea is an extremely healthy practice, hot or cold teas prepared from either loose dried leaves, powdered leaves or "bags" are less reliable sources of tea phytonutrients than are standardized powders used in the highest quality dietary supplements.

Green tea is great for the heart. It helps keep arteries clear, the heart pumping strong and high cholesterol at bay. Coronary artery disease is the precursor to heart attack. Scientists have found that the incidence of coronary artery disease is inversely proportional to the consumption of green tea. As such, the more green tea we consume, the lower our odds of having clogged coronary arteries that either require surgery or cause heart attack. Studies have found that first heart attacks are unlikely among green tea drinkers, but nonfatal first heart attacks are more survivable among green tea drinkers.

In men and women, the degree of body fat, whether expressed at the ratio of waist circumference to hip circumference or as percent body fat, decreases as green tea intake increases. Green tea contributes to the maintenance of healthy body weight in several ways.

One of the least appreciated properties of green tea is its ability to limit the absorption of the fat we eat. Green tea interferes with the fat-digesting enzymes in the stomach and small intestine. This interference with the normally highly efficient digestive system and the absorption of dietary fats figures prominently in any effort to manage weight effectively.

Moreover, evidence suggests that stress, anxiety and depression are associated with increased abdominal fat storage and a larger waistline. As you know, stress, anxiety and depression increase the secretion of a hormone called cortisol. This hormone increases the rate of fat accumulation by abdominal fat cells.

Green tea contains an amino acid - L- theanine. This amino acid efficiently enters the brain from the blood. Within the brain, L- theanine exerts sedating physiologic effects. L- theanine acts to reduce the perceptions of stress or anxiety, thus by helping to keep stress under control, green tea makes an important contribution to healthy weight maintenance.

Just putting green tea in your mouth has benefits. Yes! The phytonutrients in green teas are partially absorbed through the soft tissues of the oral cavity and attach to every surface, including the surfaces of the teeth. The phytonutrients in green tea inhibit plaque formation on tooth surfaces and the tiny amount of fluoride in green tea helps strengthen tooth enamel.

You can purchase bagged green tea in most grocery and health food stores. Make sure it is a high quality green tea. Decide if you like a fruity, floral or sweet green tea. Loose leaf green teas are becoming more and more popular. In my opinion, quality fresh green tea simply tastes better.

If you decide to try loose leaf green tea, I would suggest going to a tea store or other location that sells it so that you can see, smell and taste the green tea you plan to purchase. Buy the smallest amount at first, try it out and then purchase more later.

The scent of green tea can be an indicator of taste. Green tea with a strong scent will have a strong flavor. The color of your green tea leaves will also indicate flavor. Light colored green tea will taste light and crisp, with floral or herbal undertones. Dark green teas will taste more robust. Roasted green tea (having a brownish-green color) will taste bitter.

When preparing green tea, DON'T BOIL THE WATER. Even the best green tea can be ruined by using boiling water. It will leave it with a mediciny (is this a word?), bitter taste. The water should be warm to the touch.

DON'T OVER-BREW! Green tea should be brewed no more than five minutes. Once brewed, remove the leaves from the water and refrigerate. Most green teas can be brewed up to four times.

Now that you have plenty of information on green tea, enjoy! There can be no doubt that for good health and healthy aging, green tea is among your strongest allies.

Copyright 2011 - Dexter Yarbrough