Green Tea Resource Learning Center

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Green tea contains polyphenols which are thought to improve health, particularly catechins, the most abundant of which is epigallocatechin gallate. In vitro and animal studies as well as preliminary observational and clinical studies of humans suggest that green tea can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer as well as beneficially impact bone density, cognitive function, dental cavities, and kidney stones. However, the human studies are sometimes mixed and inconsistent.^[6] Green tea also contains carotenoids, tocopherols, ascorbic acid (vitamin C), minerals such as chromium, manganese, selenium or zinc, and certain phytochemical compounds. It is a more potent antioxidant than black tea,^[6] although black tea has substances which green tea does not such as theaflavin.

Green tea consumption is associated with reduced heart disease in epidemiological studies. Animal studies have found that it can reduce cholesterol. However, several small, brief human trials found that tea consumption did not reduce cholesterol in humans. In 2003 a randomized clinical trial found that a green tea extract with added theaflavin from black tea reduced cholesterol.^[7]

In a study performed at Birmingham (UK) University, it was shown that average fat oxidation rates were 17% higher after ingestion of green tea Extract than after ingestion of a placebo.^[8] Similarly the contribution of fat oxidation to total energy expenditure was also significantly higher by a similar percentage following ingestion of green tea extract. This implies that ingestion of green tea extract can not only increase fat oxidation during moderately intensive exercise but also improve insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance in healthy young men.

A recent study looked at the effects of short term green tea consumption on a group of students between the ages of 19–37. Participants were asked not to alter their diet and to drink 4 cups of green tea per day for 14 days. The results showed that short term consumption of commercial green tea reduces systolic and diastolic Blood Pressure, fasting total cholesterol, body fat and body weight. These results suggest a role for green tea in decreasing established potential cardiovascular risk factors. This study also suggests that reductions may be more pronounced in the overweight population where a significant proportion are obese and have a high risk of cardiovascular disease.^[9]

In a study performed at the Technion, it was shown that the main antioxidant polyphenol of green tea extract, EGCG, when fed to mice induced with Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease, helped to protect brain cells from dying, as well as ‘rescuing’ already damaged neurons in the brain, a phenomenon called neurorescue or neurorestoration. The findings of the study, led by Dr. Silvia Mandell, were presented at the Fourth International Scientific Symposium on Tea and Human Health in Washington D.C., in 2007. Resulting tests underway in China, under the auspices of the Michael J. Fox Foundation, are being held on early Parkinson’s patients.^[10]

In a recent case-control study of the eating habits of 2,018 women, consumption of mushrooms and green tea was linked to a 90% lower occurrence of breast cancer.^[11]

Catechin is a polyphenolic antioxidant plant metabolite. The term catechin is also commonly used to refer to the related family of flavonoids and the subgroup flavan-3-ols (or simply flavanols).

Catechins are differentiated from the ketone-containing flavonoids such as quercitin and rutin, which are called flavonols (spelled flavonols with an o). The term bioflavonoid was first used to describe the flavonols, but as an imprecise term has been loosely applied to the larger family of flavonoids, including also the polymeric hydroxyl-only containing flavan-3-ols (catechins).

The catechins are abundant in teas derived from the tea-plant Camellia sinensis as well as in some cocoas and chocolates (made from the seeds of Theobroma cacao).

The name of the catechin chemical family derives from catechu which is the juice or boiled extract of Mimosa catechu (Acacia catechu L.f))^[1]

What is EGCG: Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), also known as Epigallocatechin 3-gallate, is the ester of epigallocatechin and gallic acid and a type of catechin.

EGCG is the most abundant catechin in most notably tea, among other plants, and is also a potent antioxidant.^[1] that may have therapeutic properties for many disorders including cancer^[2][3] It is found in green tea, but not black tea, as EGCG is converted into thearubigins in black teas.