Green
Tea Antioxidants: Drink Them Up
First, people spoke of the
benefits a glass of red wine could have on your heart; now they
spout the greatness that is green tea. Antioxidants are found in
abundance in green tea, as well as black tea and oolong tea, which
all come from the same tea plant Camellia sinensis. A study has
found that black tea and green tea have 10 times the amount of antioxidants
found in fruits and vegetables. Fruits and vegetables have long
been thought to be the best source for ingesting essential antioxidants.
John Weisburger, PhD, claims to be the first person to show that
green tea antioxidants help to modify the metabolism in order to
detoxify harmful chemicals. Weisburger is said to consume 10 cups
of green tea a day.
Black tea, oolong tea and green tea all have the same antioxidants
because they all come from the same plant. They are only different
because they’re processed differently. The black, oolong and
green tea are abundant with the antioxidant, polyphenols. These
black tea and green tea antioxidants search the body for harmful
free radicals in order to detoxify them. These antioxidants are
essential since these free radicals damage cells in the body and
are thought to lead to heart disease, cancer and other serious ailments.
Black tea and green tea antioxidants are different from the antioxidants
found in fruits and vegetables. Thearubigins and catechins are black
and green tea antioxidants and they are considered flavonoids, which
are found in plants. Weisburger states that people in China and
Japan have less cases of heart disease than any other country in
the world because they drink so much tea.
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