Antioxidant Effects of Green Tea

Through the process of oxidation, oxygen starts the process of burning glucose and fat to provide heat and energy in the body. Although this is an inevitable and naturally occurring process which gives our bodies the energy we need; the process of oxidation creates some by-products that have negative effects to our body.

During the process of oxidation, highly reactive by-products called free radicals are produced. These free radicals act on other molecules, turning them into free radicals like themselves, thus disrupting their normal functioning. This could eventually lead to massive cell destruction, tissue damage, and even cause degenerative diseases, like cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis and atherosclerosis among others.

Oxygen damage to your cells results when there are too many free radicals present inside the body. Researchers conclude that such damage may be partly responsible for the effects of aging and certain diseases.

There are certain substances in food which may play a role in protecting against this damage. Luckily, the human body comes prepared with natural defenses against these harmful free radicals.

Antioxidants are chemical substances found naturally in fruits and vegetables. Antioxidants act on free radicals, pursuing them and neutralizing them in order to stop their damage on healthy cells of the body.

What are the antioxidant effects of plants? Among the many plants that have disease-fighting antioxidants is the camellia sinensis, otherwise known as the tea plant. For centuries, tea has been served in Asian households as a healthy drink to promote health and general well-being. Green tea especially has been greatly favored due its many amazing health benefits.

For centuries, green tea has been consumed throughout the ages in Asia. In traditional Chinese and Indian medicine, green tea has been used as a stimulant, diuretic (to promote the excretion of urine), astringent (to control bleeding and help heal wounds), and to improve heart health.

The benefits of green tea have been largely attributed to the presence of polycatechins which have potent antioxidant effects. However, besides polycatechins, there are also other ingredients in green tea that contribute to its antioxidant effects.

What are the antioxidant effects found in green tea? Among all flavonoids, catechin is ranked high for its antioxidant effects and properties. Catechin is that substance in green tea which makes the beverage an excellent source of antioxidant effects. Besides tannin, vitamins such as vitamin A (carotene), C, and E, there are also other well-known substances in green tea that gives it its antioxidant effects.

Research aimed at finding the active compounds in green tea revealed that its defensive and antioxidant effects are mainly due to catechins which are powerful polyphenolic antioxidants.

Green tea also has antioxidant effects that make them powerful anti-carcinogenic, cardioprotective, nueroprotective, and anti-microbial actions. A mostly bioactive catechin called epigallocatechin gallate has been singled out by many researchers as very important because of its antioxidant effects leading to cancer prevention.

It is therefore a good idea to drink tea for its antioxidants effects. A constant intake of antioxidants from our diet can protect against damages to our body cells which occur following oxidation. Have more cups of green tea per day and benefit from its antioxidant effects.

Tea And The Caffeine Myth

While in Chicago for a long weekend trip, I visited several tea shops - it was nice to see that loose leaf teas are gaining in popularity at least in some parts of the U.S. There’s definitely a lot yet to be done in terms of general education about the quality of different leaves - I will write another article about this, hopefully I’ll have some physical samples soon. I came back with what feels like countless new things to write about, but for the moment let’s just dispell the various rumors about caffeine in tea. We’ll take a look at caffeine contents of different parts of the tea bush, absorption, flavor, and differences of caffeine in tea and coffee.

Let’s start with some basic facts, from the beginning…: the quantity of caffeine in dry loose leaf tea is higher than the quantity of caffeine in the same weight of dry coffee beans. The caffeine content of a cup of tea, on average, is lower though (by about half), than the same in a like size cup of coffee. This is due to the fact that more tea is produced from the same amount of tea leaves than from coffee beans. Infusing tea beyond the recommended steeping time increases the caffeine content of the cup, which is something I recommend against - the flavor of the tea will be affected to some degree (the primary contributors to the tea ‘flavor’ is due to the interaction between the caffeine and polyphenols present in the leaves).

So, in short, a properly infused cup of tea generally yields about half the caffeine content of a cup of tea.

Caffeine content of a tea bush varies by the part of the bush used for your loose leaf tea. While caffeine levels vary slightly by region, the general breakdown of caffeine content is as follows:

Bud 4.50 % First leaf 4.10 % Second Leaf 3.40 % Third Leaf 2.90 % Upper stem 2.50 % Lower stem 1.40 %

Depending on the type of tea you are drinking (white tea, for instance is primarily just buds, with high caffeine content). Many low quality loose leaf teas have higher net quantities of stems, resulting in a lower caffeine content tea. This is important, remember, because flavor is a matter of the essential interaction between polyphenols and caffeine in tea). As far as daily consumption is concerned, it is generally safe (and has no known - at least from what I’ve found in all my research) to consume as much as 10 to 12 cups of tea per day. I do have to add a word of caution here though…. tea is a diuretic, due to its caffeine content. You will need to drink more water to make up for fluid loss caused by drinking a lot of tea. I realize it may sound odd, but just try it! Drink a pot of real loose leaf tea, and you’ll find yourself feeling dehydrated an hour later. Of course the same isn’t true for the junk that passes itself off as tea (think Lipton ice tea, for instance).

To further illustrate the relative caffeine content in various beverages, here’s a comparison:

Bottle of Coke (300ml) - 40mg caffeine (average) Dark Chocolate Bar (50g) - 35mg caffeine (avg) Cup of Coffee (8oz) - 100mg (avg) Cup of Tea (8oz) - 35mg (avg) A pharmacologically active dose of caffeine is 200mg and a fatal dose is 10,000mg. Important to note here is also that several studies suggest that as much as 70-80% of caffeine content consumed is actually not absorbed by the body.

Here is another one for you: caffeine content of green tea is approximately the same as it is in black tea. The fermentation process critical to the state of the final leaf (green or black) does affect the active Catechin (antioxidant) content of the leaf, but the caffeine content remains largely the same. So…. when the store clerk tells you that the green tea has less caffeine, don’t take their word for it. Just stick with the recommended water temperatures and infusing times, and you’ll get a great cup of tea - with a caffeine dose half that of coffee, and not detrimental to your health (standard disclaimer applies here, if you have any health concerns please do consult with your doctor).

On to the subject of decaffeinated tea: This probably warrants its own subject, but let’s at least have this for a bit of reference. There are three commercial means of extracting caffeine from loose leaf tea, including the use of solvents (either ethyl acetate or methylene chloride) or the use of carbon dioxide. While producers insist that this affects the leaf only minimally, you will be drinking a tea with less than 0.4% caffeine (that’s the max content of caffeine in the dry leaf for decaffeinated tea). Again here as a purist I do want to mention that the flavor interactions will be affected, and you are consuming a product altered through the use of foreign chemical substances. Buyer beware.

Mark is a contributing author to the Loose Leaf information site at http://www.looseleaf.info

The Green Tea Diet Reviewed

Due to the popularity of recent findings, green tea has almost become synonymous with weight loss and diet. The addition of green tea diet into diet pills and weight loss supplements is perhaps spurred by reports of harmful side-effects of other drugs like ephedra.

Why Choose the Green Tea Diet?

For four thousand years, green tea has been used all throughout Asia as a beneficial health and medicinal drink. It is different from all other tea diets because its liquid is extracted by steaming the leaves of the Camellia sinensis plant as opposed to full oxidation. In this way, the green tea diet manages to preserve a lot more antioxidants and keep them intact for the body to use.

The green tea diet is an excellent source of polycatechin polyphenols, a group of antioxidants that act on free radicals. These free radicals have harmful effects on the body since they are the major causes of diseases and aging. With polycatechin polyphenols, a person has a better chance of avoiding ailments and keeping himself healthy for a much longer period of time.

Another antioxidant in the green tea diet is also being studied as a potential cure for cancer. Epigallocatechin gallate or EGCG found in the diet has been discovered to destroy cancer cells while keeping surrounding healthy cells unharmed.

The EGCG also acts with another compound, caffeine (a small amount of this is found in green tea). The interaction of these two compounds causes the diet to promote thermogenesis in the body.

It has been noted by a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition that with the consumption of the green tea diet, the body’s total 24-hour energy expenditure is increased by up to four percent. This is roughly equivalent to losing more than 10 pounds of weight a month.

The diet helps increase the body’s metabolic rates. With its thermogenic properties, it is only natural that it can also promote faster metabolism of fats and sugars. Excess glucose found in the body is turned into fats by the hormone insulin. Because green tea has an inhibiting effect on insulin, it therefore helps keep sugar from being stored as fats and instead, send them directly into the muscles for immediate use.

The Downside

Although the diet has a reputation for boosting health, scientific proofs of its health benefits are still somewhat mixed. However, in an article published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, American researchers collaborated with their Chinese counterparts to discuss the beneficial effects of green tea diet on cholesterol levels.

Using 240 men and women (average age 55) who possess mild to moderately high LDL cholesterol levels, the researchers instructed them to retain their usual low-fat diet, green tea diet intake, and activity levels. After twelve weeks, it was found that those who consumed the green tea diet extract with their regular meals lost more than fifteen percent of their total LDL cholesterol levels.

Although the researchers never explained how the green tea diet may influence cholesterol levels, previous studies have shown that certain compounds play a role in reducing the amount of cholesterol absorbed by the body, increasing amount of cholesterol excreted, and thus keeping cholesterol from being stored in the liver.

Subsequent studies were made to test the findings of the first group of researchers. Their results were contradictory. They found there was no significant effect on the cholesterol profiles of their subjects.

There is no such thing as a miracle diet. The green tea diet like all other diets needs a lot of work and input from those who enroll in it. It requires both discipline and determination for it to make any significant impact on your weight loss goals.

How to Get morning walk regularly for longer hours

Increase your morning walk time and get more regular

Many of us make plans for a walk as a way to lose some extra pounds. But we exactly did is just make the plan for walking and never looking to implement it. And if any way we are able to go for a walk, we do not have regularity in that. To have some real results for our health, we need to take walking regularly and for longer hours.

If you can suggest me any ideas how I can be more regular about my walking? I welcome all of your ideas. I have seen different people use different ideas as a way to have some healthy walking in the morning regularly.

Some people ask their relatives and friends to help him/her get up in the morning. That does not seem to be a good idea, as that will rarely bring regularity in your walking. Some people use Alarms or some reminders as a way to get up in the morning. What I have noticed about it is that all of us get up in the morning just to off the alarm or reminder than for walking.

What I feel is we cannot be regular about our exercise if we do not have proper planning. We all need to know what we are going to get if we are going for the walk daily and what we are going to lose if we miss it. We have greater chance of success if both of our mind and feelings want to do it.

I like some of my friend’s regularity about their morning walk. Some of them use to go for walk in the group of two or more people. When you go for walk in the group, you do not get bored but enjoy it.

Some others have their pets with them when they went out for walking. This idea seems to be really seems to be work for everyone. I have decided that I am doing to bring a pet and going for a walk with him in the morning daily. What I am going to get while walking with pet is regularity with my walking program. It will also help me to increase my walking speed as well as my walking hours daily.

If you people have some big ideas how you are able to walk daily then you can either mail me or can leave a message in the comment section. Your ideas are going to help millions of people to be regular with their exercise program.

Knowing your metabolism can kick-start weight-loss plan

If knowledge is power, perhaps Paula Franetti can empower you to shed those extra pounds you've put on in the last few years, and to keep them off for the rest of your life.

Ms. Franetti, who has a master's degree in exercise physiology from the University of Pittsburgh, is the proprietor of MetaFitness, at 977 Perry Highway, Ross.

Ms. Franetti uses two relatively new diagnostic tools to determine how many calories you burn in the course of a normal day, and how you burn them. Then she and Terri Spirk, a dietitian, design diet and activity plans to fit your personal metabolic rate, your daily routine, and your likes and dislikes.

The first device, which looks like a breathalyzer test administered horizontally, can determine your resting metabolic rate by measuring how much oxygen you consume. (It's called the Reevue, for resting energy expenditure view.)

We burn calories every minute of every day, even when we're sleeping. (If we didn't, we'd be dead.) Typically, 70 percent of all the calories we burn are the calories we need just to keep our body functioning.

The number of calories we need each day to sustain life is our basal metabolic rate. (The resting metabolic rate the Reevue can measure is just a bit higher.) It's different for each one of us, and it diminishes with age. A 1997 study at the University of Colorado indicated post-menopausal women have a BMR 10 percent lower than that of the pre-menopausal women studied. If you're in your 40s and 50s, and your diet and exercise patterns are the same as they were in your 20s and 30s, that alone may explain why you've put on a few more pounds.

We burn more calories when we're active than when we're lying in bed. Ms. Franetti measures this with a small device with five sensors that you strap on your arm and leave on for a week. By measuring the amount of heat your body expends, the Sensewear can determine how many calories you burn during the week, and when you burn them.

Understanding and manipulating your metabolic rate is the key to weight loss, fitness, and retarding the aging process, Ms. Franetti said.

Bigger people typically have higher BMRs than smaller people, because it takes more energy to lug the heavier weight around.

Active people have higher basal metabolic rates. The University of Colorado study cited above indicated the decline in BMR was much greater for sedentary women than for women who exercised regularly.

But often the biggest difference is between those people who have proportionally more muscle, and those who have less. It takes energy to sustain muscle mass, while fat just lies there.

This is why exercise programs that include weight lifting and other forms of resistance training tend to be more successful in inducing weight loss than cardiovascular exercise alone, even though you can burn many more calories in an hour on the treadmill or the exercise bike than you can in an hour lifting weights.

If those of us who are not athletes get to the gym three or four times a week, we're doing well. Our metabolic rate spikes while we are exercising, but once we get off the treadmill or the bike, it pretty quickly drops back to normal. Building additional muscle mass will burn additional calories 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

If you're planning to go on a diet, it's very important not to reduce your calorie consumption below your BMR, Ms. Franetti said.

"Your body will think you're starving, and it will lower your metabolic rate as a defense mechanism," she said.

This is why people who go on low-calorie diets often see dramatic results in the first week or two, but then their weight creeps back up.

The key to long-term weight loss is to consume more calories than are required to sustain your BMR, but fewer calories than you burn in a typical day.

Armed with the results of her tests and an interview, Ms. Franetti prepares for her clients a 13-page Metabolic Efficiency Profile that outlines nearly precisely that range, and then proposes a customized plan to increase the rate at which her clients burn calories.

Typically, the changes she proposes in diet and exercise are modest, and are geared to her clients' likes and dislikes. Small, incremental changes are easier to make and easier to stick to, she said, and, over time, can produce dramatic results.

"It's kind of fun to figure out for people that it is easy to do this," she said.

The results of the Metabolic Efficiency Profile are sometimes startling, Ms. Franetti said.

"I had a client who walked and worked out to exercise tapes for exercise," she said. "She liked walking, but didn't like the exercise tapes.

"Our analysis indicated she was burning more calories on her walks and doing housework than she was when she was working out to the exercise tapes."

When she learned that, the client dumped the tapes and went for longer walks. She was happier, and began making more rapid progress toward her fitness goals, Ms. Franetti said.

"Paula gives you the tools to let you know what your body is doing," said another client, Jill Cueni-Cohen, 41, of Allison Park. "Your excuses are finished."

Ms. Cueni-Cohen said she also appreciates the coaching she receives from Ms. Franetti.

"Dieting can be lonely, and it's great to have Paula encouraging me, showing me I can do it," she said.