Green Tea - Cancer Defending Nutrition Tea

By Aoife Joyce

Green Tea has for years been the nutrition tea of all teas for the Chinese. They recognized its power and abilities to heal and prevent illnesses over 4,000 years ago. In this article I am going to discuss those powers in detail, so pay close attention...

To start with, Green Tea stands out against other teas in that it is produced differently. The leaves of the plant that green tea is made, Camelia Sinensis, are steamed during production. This steaming prevents the antioxidants in the leaves from being damaged or altered. Teas such as Oolong Tea and White Tea are produced by way of fermentation, which converts the antioxidants into other forms. The chief antioxidant within Green Tea that holds most of the benefits is a catechin polyphenol called Epilgallocatechin Gallate, EGCG in short.

EGCG is primarily a flavanoid, and is similar to however more powerful than its cousin flavanoids that can be found in foods such as grapes, strawberries, red wine, broccoli and green cabbage. EGCG has the ability to attach itself to protein cells that are found in tumor cells and drastically reduce their growth. A receptor that develops on the surface of cancer cells called Laminin, was put with concentrate of EGCG and the results showed huge reductions in further growth of these type of cells. These results were revealed in April's issue of Nature Structural and Molecular Biology magazine. The piece also revealed that the amounts of EGCG that were used to bring these results, is equivalent to the amount you can get yourself daily from drinking just 3 cups of Green Tea.

Another discovery, by Dr. H -H Sherry Chow of University of Arizona, Tucson showed that the body creates a detoxifying enzyme naturally, called Glutathione S- Transverase (GST). These GST enzymes assist the body in defending against cancer causing compounds and other toxic substances. Dr. Chow's study showed that GST enzymes were stimulated by EGCG. With a group of people who showed lowered levels of GST , a concentrate of Green Tea extract was used to test these claims. The group had an average of 80% increase in the production of GST. Accordingly their strength in defending against cancer was heightened spectacularly. The Green Tea extract that was used in these tests was more potent than what you would get on a daily basis from having a few cups of this nutrition tea, however it is clear that by introducing Green Tea into your diet, or by increasing your intake, that you will build up your GST enzyme levels over time and help keep them activated, growing and defending for you.

Another find showed that EGCG has the power to react with Leukemia cells and halt communication between cells. This deters them from growing and multiplying to any further extent. On this note I would also like to point out that, regardless of the multiples of Green Tea products that are available to buy for your skin, or supplements with Green Tea extract- a freshly brewed cup of Green Tea is the best way to gain the powerful antioxidants it holds. As I stated earlier, the leaves are steamed dry during production, which saves all antioxidant concentrates. When the leaves or tea bag are soaked in hot water, this allows the antioxidants to disperse in the water. Therefore this is the best way to take full advantage of the potency right away, before it is produced again to make an extract or a cream. Get it in its finest state! - 31816

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