Over the past 5,000 years, people from Asia and India have known that drinking green tea is beneficial to health. In fact, a Zen priest documented this information in a book called “Book of Tea”, written in the 12th century. This book provided details as to how green tea can improve function of five vital organs to include the brain and heart. In addition, the priest showed that green tea helps with specific illnesses such as Beriberi Disease and Urinary Tract infections. Considered a multipurpose natural treatment, green tea has grown in popularity around the world.
While green tea is an ancient remedy, modern science supports the early findings. Over the past 10 years, tremendous amount of research has been done on green tea, finding this herbal tea offers promising healing properties. We know that Chinese green tea can help with depression, indigestion, and high cholesterol, but green tea cancer benefits are the best discovery of all. To understand the impact more, people need to become educated about cancer itself.
Cancer – A Gene Disease
Cancer involves the division of cells, which go out of control. At that time, genes begin controlling cell growth have somehow been damaged. The process involves a single gent that goes through several mutations, which changes a healthy cell into a cancerous cell. One of the best known methods for stopping this enzyme activity is with antioxidants, repairing DNA issues caused by free radicals and oxidants. Since loose black tea, green tea, and other tea varieties contain antioxidants, they assist in the process.
Using Tea as an Antioxidant
Of all types of tea, green tea is without doubt the best choice of all. When buying the best green tea available, at a local store or through online tea companies, the high level of antioxidants work as inhibitors for the growth of these cells. Through lab studies, we know that antioxidants fight oxidants just before cells are damaged, which in turn, stops the growth of cancerous cells so incidents of cancer decrease.
As an example, when testing mice with cancer, those that were given green tea actually had shrinkage of tumors, whether it was in the skin, liver, or stomach.
Preventing Cancer with Green Tea
One particular study was documented in the Journal of Cellular Biochemistry, written by Hasan Mukhtar and Santosh Katiyar. This study showed that green tea definitely prevents cancer. While many different varieties of tea were shown beneficial, the study showed that green tea was the best. However, tea grown in 30 different countries was recognized as growing quality tea that could prevent cancer.
Typically, studies focus more on the therapeutic benefits of green tea but in this particular lab study, when mice were given green tea extract in drinking water or in a pure form, the benefits were tremendous. They even found that green tea has some health benefit on unborn children.
The Many Uses of Tea
Through medical studies, we know that green tea benefits are limitless. In addition to preventing and treating cancer, this kind of tea also helps with cancer of various types, pancreas, liver, lungs, stomach, esophagus, colon, and breast – GREAT news. However, the reason that green tea is so beneficial is still being researched although several theories have surfaced.
Green Tea Effects as a Beverage
Most studies conducted on green tea have been done on mice and other laboratory animals. Many results from these studies show that mice given green tea actually had the ability to fight cancer better but some studies disagreed. In the less than hopeful results, experts believe that various environmental factors came into play, which would have included diet, as well as carcinogens being within space where the animals were kept.
However, research done in China has produced some of the most positive test results. For instance, one controlled study involved 18,000 men who consumed green tea and of those, the development of stomach cancer was far less than men that did not drink this type of Chinese green tea. Another independent study was conducted in the Netherlands, also involving tens of thousands of people, consisting of both men and women. Again, of those that consumed tea, the number of people developing cancer was far less.
Debate in the Medical Industry
For universities and even the US government, the level of green tea benefit and healing properties are still debated. As an example, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not believe that green tea has any positive impact on prostate, breast, stomach, or any other type of cancer. Additionally, the FDA does not believe that cardiovascular disease benefits from drinking green tea.
Even so, the Journal of American Medical Association published a report in 2006 that disagreed with what the FDA said. In their study, they found that three or more cups of green tea consumed daily did in fact have benefit in reducing risk of heart disease and associated death.
Possibilities for the Future
We still see tremendous interest in green tea and the potential for health benefits. In fact, the National Cancer Institute has been putting a lot of effort into studying this herbal tea specific to skin cancer. What they have discovered is that to prevent this form of cancer, both green tea supplements and green tea location appears to produce wanted results.
