Get Ready to Go Green

Posted August 19, 2007 at 02:00 PM by Lisa Cieplechowicz

Section: His Health, Physical Health, Lifestyle Health, His Nutrition, Healthy Eating, Diets, Supplements

The green tea craze is among us. Green tea shots, ice cream, iced tea, and flavored drinks can be found just about anywhere thanks to our society’s increasing realization of the amazing benefits this tea leaf has to offer us. From boosting our metabolism to keeping our teeth and gums healthy, green tea seems to work wonders on our entire body. And here’s some more good news - it fights off cancer too.

Too good to be true? Probably not, considering the massive amount of research surrounding this miracle-beverage that insists that this is just the case. First of all, green tea is renowned for the amount of antioxidants it contains, EGCG- the one advertised on all those Snapple bottles- in particular. Antioxidants are substances that protect cells from damage caused by unstable molecules, also known as free radicals. This is important because free radical damage is widely believed to be connected to the development of cancer. However, many studies have shown that the presence of antioxidants not only slows the development of cancer from free radicals, it can actually prevent it altogether. And according to some medical journals, such as Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, it takes drinking only about 3 cups of green tea a day to experience the healing affects its antioxidants have to offer.

Need some proof? Recently, scientists at the Arizona Cancer Center at the University of Arizona conducted a clinical study on 42 participants in order to determine the effect green tea catechins (aka special kinds of antioxidants) had on human’s metabolic defenses against cancer. They concentrated on examining the levels of GST enzymes, which are believed to be substances that are critical in the fight against cancerous cells and toxins. What the researchers found is that after drinking large quantities of green tea for 4 weeks, individuals with originally low GST levels saw an increase of nearly 80%. In other words, the chemicals in green tea boosted the body’s ability to protect against cancer development.

More news came on the preventative end, as the BBC recently reported that researchers from Rochester University have discovered that certain chemicals in green tea inhibit the functionality of the AH molecule - a molecule found in the human body that can stimulate damaging gene activity and potentially lead to the growth of cancer cells.

Of course, even in cases where cancer cells have already formed, it seems that the effects of green tea continue to work their magic. Take, for instance, a study conducted by UCLA on cancerous bladder cells, as documented in the Clinical Cancer Research Journal. The researchers determined that green teas extracts targeted the cancer cells specifically by making them more mature, causing them to bind closely together. This has the effect of keeping cancer cells confined and localized, which makes treatments easier and prognoses more optimistic.

So what are you waiting for? Go stock up on green tea and drink yourself to better health. It may not be a cure-all, but it’s a definite step in the right direction to a healthier new you. For resources and more information: [Clinical Cancer Research]; [Nature Structure & Molecular Biology]; [BBC News]; [The Times of India]; [WebMD]