Green Tea Capsules - Your Personal Health Guru

Much has been written about how green tea was discovered. Some of them are utterly fantastic, such as the one about Siddhartha Gautama, the founder of Buddhism, who tore off his eyelids in frustration at not being able to stay awake during meditation and that a tea plant sprouted from the spot where his eyelids landed.

And then there is the one about the leaf that fell on an open pot of water that a Chinese emperor was boiling. He liked the refreshing taste that the leaf introduced into the water and soon found that the brew could cure headaches and body aches, among others. He even decreed that his people should start drinking this magical elixir.

Regardless of which story you may have heard, green tea is extracted from the Camellia sinensis shrub. It has been determined that the extracts are rich in catechin polyphenols, particularly epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG). Polyphenols are also known as antioxidants which act on harmful free radicals inside the body. These are the major causes of diseases. Besides inhibiting the growth of cancer cells, green tea is able to eliminate harmful cells without damaging healthy ones.

Aside from suppressing harmful cells, here are a few other areas in which green tea benefits your health:

• Reduces the risk of heart diseases. Green tea has the ability to lower cholesterol levels. The antioxidants target the bad cholesterol and leads to a balance between the good and bad cholesterols.


• Stimulates blood flow. This is due to the presence of caffeine in green tea. It mildly stimulates the heart, which in turn increases the blood flow throughout the body.


• Suppresses appetite. One of the most popular attributes of green tea is that it aids weight loss. It has been found that green tea affects a hormone known as leptin, which decreases appetite.


• Enhances metabolism. Hand-in-hand with lowering leptin levels, green tea also increases noradrenaline levels. Increasing the activity of this particular neurotransmitter results in the burning of bodily fat.


• Slows aging and its effects. The presence of free radicals in the body leads to unwanted diseases and aging. By counteracting them through the presence of antioxidants, green tea is able to slow down premature aging and at the same time contributes to clearer, younger-looking skin.

When shopping, be warned though that there are many bottled leisure drinks nowadays capitalizing on the popularity of green tea. They promote themselves as healthy green tea beverages when in reality, they are nothing more than sugar water infused with a less than significant amount of green tea extracts. You are better off buying the real powdered product or in capsule forms.

It is quite apparent that green tea is an expert in many areas of providing good health. Aside from the benefits mentioned above, there are anecdotal accounts from ancient China about how green tea prevents tooth decay, promotes longevity, relieves constipation, treats depression, and keeps the eyes sharp. These are the stuff that legends are made of. Put them all together and you have your own personal health legend--the guru known as green tea.