Green Tea Secrets

It seems like lately when you go to the grocery store or convenience store, you can see displays offering green tea beverages for sale.  Even though green tea has been around for years and years, it seems as if there is a current push for people to start drinking green tea, but why?

The truth is that nutritionists are starting to make it known to the general public that green tea has certain healing properties that just can’t be ignored.  We are a health conscious nation, and green tea contributes greatly toward a person’s overall well-being and can even promote healing for some pretty serious diseases. 

The Chinese have known about the medicinal benefits of green tea since ancient times, using it to treat everything from headaches to depression. In fact, green tea has been used as a medicine in China for at least 4,000 years.  

Of course, tea has been a staple in countries – especially England – and is consumed daily as part of life.  All around the world, people drink tea and in Japan, tea is even revered in its own ceremonial rite.  The Japanese tea ceremony is often performed to achieve a sense of peace as outlined in Zen Buddhism. 

Heck, even here in the United States, we like our tea whether it is iced or hot.  Some people love to relax with a nice hot cup of tea and a good book just to relax and gain some peaceful insight into life.  I personally love to have a cold glass of iced tea as I relax on my back deck and enjoy nature. 

But lately, people are discovering what the Chinese have known for years.  Green tea not only provides peace and serenity, it can actually make you healthier and fight diseases.  It can even help with weight loss.

Since this seems to have become a relatively new phenomenon, at least here in the United States, this book will help educate you about the amazing ways green tea can help your health.  You may be surprised as I was when I began researching this book.  It’s amazing what such a small thing can make such a huge difference. 

Because when you drink green tea, you will reveal hundreds of secret ways that it can improve your health.  When you’re done reading this book, we’re relatively sure you’ll agree that the green tea phenomenon is here to stay – and it probably should be!

What is Green Tea?

You would think that the definition would be self-explanatory – it’s tea that’s green.  But that doesn’t really cover it.   

All true teas - as distinct from herbal and flower infusions, which tea lovers call tisanes - are made from the leaves of a magnolia-related evergreen tree with the botanical name of Camellia sinensis. Although reaching a height of 30 feet in the wild, on tea plantations, the plant is kept as a shrub, constantly pruned to a height of about 3 feet to encourage new growth and for convenient picking.  

Tea plants grow only in warm climates but can flourish at altitudes ranging from sea level to 7,000 feet. The best teas, however, are produced by plants grown at higher altitudes where the leaves mature more slowly and yield a richer flavor. Depending upon the altitude, a new tea plant may take from 2 ½ to 5 years to be ready for commercial picking, but once productive, it can provide tea leaves for close to a century.  

Tea plants produce abundant foliage, a camellia-like flower, and a berry, but only the smallest and youngest leaves are picked for tea:  the two leaves and bud at the top of each young shoot. The growth of new shoots, called a flush, can occur every week at lower altitudes but takes several weeks at higher ones. The new leaves are picked by hand by "tea pluckers," the best of whom can harvest 40 pounds per day, enough to make 10 pounds of tea.  

All tea plants belong to the same species-Camellia sinensis-, but local growing conditions (altitude, climate, soils, etc.) vary, resulting in a multitude of distinctive leaves. The way the leaves are processed, however, is even more important in developing the individual characteristics of the three predominant types of tea: green, black and oolong.  

Green tea is the least processed and thus provides the most antioxidant polyphenols, notably a catechin called epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), which is believed to be responsible for most of the health benefits linked to green tea.  We’ll talk about EGCG a little bit later, but it is this component of green tea that makes it such a healing and advantageous drink. 

Green tea is made by briefly steaming the just harvested leaves, rendering them soft and pliable and preventing them from fermenting or changing color. After steaming, the leaves are rolled, then spread out and "fired" (dried with hot air or pan-fried in a wok) until they are crisp. The resulting greenish-yellow tea has a green, slightly astringent flavor close to the taste of the fresh leaf.  

Green tea has always been, and remains today, the most popular type of tea from China where most historians and botanists believe the tea plant originated throughout all of Asia. Why is this so? Perhaps because green tea not only captures the taste, aroma and color of spring, but delivers this delightful bouquet along with the highest concentration of beneficial phytonutrients and the least caffeine of all the teas.  

The key to the amazing health benefits that are derived from consuming green tea is that the leaves are steamed which preserves the EGCG compound from being oxidized.  Other teas are fermented which breaks down the natural EGCG and takes away from its healing properties. 

In fact, green tea has very long and storied history dating back thousands and thousands of years.  It can be quite fascinating to know what the Chinese have known for centuries.

The History of Tea

The origin of tea can be traced back to over 4000 years ago in China. No one is sure where and when tea was first brewed, and, in fact, stories about tea's origins are more myth than reality. One story tells that a legendary Chinese leader and medical expert, Sheng Nong, discovered tea as a medicinal herb in 2737 B.C. One day while he was boiling water under a tea tree, some tealeaves fell into Sheng's pot of boiling water. After drinking some tea, he discovered its miraculous powers and immediately placed tea on his list of medicinal herbs.  

Initially used as an offering and as medicine, tea became the most commonly used beverage during western Han dynasty. Buddhist monks started growing it around monasteries. Later, during the Ming dynasty, the tea trade took an upper share in the state economy and the ”Tea and Horse Bureau" was set up to supervise tea trade.   

A Buddhist Monk introduced tea to Japan in the 6th Century and later in the 16th Century a Portuguese missionary introduced it to Europe. There began the history of Tea as an international drink. Trade between China and the western world grew considerably with the beginning of the Ching Dynasty.  

As the Emperor of China was taking his first snuff of tobacco brought from Europe, the Queen of England was sipping her first cup of tea. As early as 1615, English traders with the East India Company were aware of the existence of tea. Tea quickly spread throughout Europe and in less than 100 years, England's import of tea rose from 100 pounds a year to over 5 million pounds per year. This demand for tea meant many voyages to bring shiploads of tea from China.    

Green tea has been the beverage of choice among the Chinese elite intellects and bureaucrats who usually have the means to maintain an affluent dining habit. Historically, freshly plucked tea leaves were used directly for tea brewing or lightly heat-processed for preservation of the "health ingredients" if not consumed immediately. The word "tea" always means green tea in the "Middle Kingdom".  

Tea was an expensive beverage in ancient China. Its use was confined to the wealthy segments of the population. Only in Ming dynasty after the fall of the Mongolian empire in 1368 A.D., tea drinking spread from the elite to the populace.  

When China was the sea power of the world (1405-1433), tea was among the indispensable supplies for the seamen. The amount of vitamin C in the tea drink consumed by the seafarers at that time was enough to prevent scurvy which would kill many European sailors more than 100 years later, but was essentially unknown to the medical officers assigned to the fleet of more than 27,000 men on their round voyage from China to Africa.   

In a famous painting titled "Drinking Tea" (a poor English translation of the original elegant title in Chinese, meaning "Tea Tending Event"), which is now on display in the Palace Museum, Beijing, the most admired and envied painter of Ming dynasty, Tang Yin (1470-1523), recorded the traditional method for tea preparation at the time when China was the most prosperous nation on earth.  

As described in the poem written on the painting, an affluent intellect actually plucked fresh leaves from the tea trees growing on the southern hillside below his house to brew tea. This document recorded the fact that fresh or non-oxidized tea leaves, i.e., green tea, were used in the prosperous Chinese society at least until the latter part of Ming dynasty. 

Emperor Chien-lung of the Ching Dynasty who reigned from 1736 to 1796 A.D. disguised himself as a commoner, traveling with two cabinet ministers incognito to the countryside. Since the Manchu Imperial family originally came from a northern minority, Chien-lung was used to drinking black tea only.  

When his entourage was passing a tea plantation in south-central China, the servants offered him a cup of choice green tea. After a few sips, the emperor commented: "Too bland. Tasteless," and continued his journey on horseback. Riding about half of a mile later, the emperor turned to his ministers and said, "Good tea." The perceptive king suddenly realized that the characteristic soothing savory sweet tea-taste of a choice green tea only comes a few minutes after the sip. Since then, green tea was introduced to the Manchu ruling family as the beverage of choice and a special misty hillside in Zhejiang Province was designated as the Imperial Tea Plantation.  

Tea consumption was introduced to the United States by Europe, as a part of the worldwide tea trade, and also by Chinese immigrants who owned Chinese restaurants in the United States and served their tea. This dates back before 1945. 

As we’ve said, green tea has been used for thousands of years in Asia for its medicinal properties.  The Kissa Yojoki, or Book of Tea was written a Zen priest names Eisai in 1191.  This book describes how drinking green tea can have a positive effect on the five vital organs of the body – especially the heart. 

The book discusses tea’s medicinal qualities which include easing the effects of alcohol, acting as a stimulant, curing “blotchiness”, quenching thirst, eliminating indigestion, curing beriberi disease, preventing fatigue and improving urinary and brian function.  Part one of the book also explains the shapes of tea plants, tea flowers, and tea leaves.  It also covers how to grow tea plants and process tea leaves. 

Part Two of the book discusses the specific dosage and method required to use green tea for individual physical ailments.  Because of this book, we know that the Chinese and Asian people have long known that green tea can be used in many ways to promote healing and ward off health problems. 

The reason that green tea is such a healing drink is because of the way the leaves are processed.  They are steamed as opposed to fermented which leaves its most potent element intact and ready to heal.  That element is EGCG. 

What is EGCG?  This is the most important component of green tea that makes it such a therapeutic and healing drink.

EGCG

(Return to Contents)

When I think about defining EGCG and how to convey what exactly it is, I think about the commercial on television with the guy who hikes into the mountains of China to find a wise man to explain the exact concept to him.  At the end of the commercial, the guy asks the wise man, “How did you know that?” the wise man replies, “It’s on the back of the bottle.”

To speak technically, EGCG stands for epigallocatechin gallete.  Aren’t you glad you know that now?  Speaking in layman’s terms, EGCG is what makes green tea so healing.  It is a derivative of the enzyme called catechin which is found in plant matter, but mostly in tea plants.  Catechins are also found in chocolate, fruits, vegetables, and wine.

Actually, EGCG is only one of four major catechins present in teas, but it definitely is the most healing of all them.  That’s probably because the EGCG catechin makes up about thirty-percent of the weight of green tea leaves. 

Studies have shown that EGCG is responsible for the healing properties of green tea and has been found to prevent cancer, heart disease, and even aid in weight loss.  We’ll address each of the healthful properties of green tea and EGCG in later chapters, but this is the component of green tea that makes it such a wonderful dietary supplement for nearly everyone.

EGCG is a very powerful antioxidant.  Essentially, it prevents oxidization in the body which, although it is a necessary bodily process, over-oxidization can also speed up the process of disease taking over the body.  Thus if you consume anti-oxidants, you can hinder the progress of the disease significantly.

So, let’s get a little technical here when it comes to how EGCG is produced in tea leaves.  You may have to re-read this part a few times, but really it can be fascinating to understand why green tea and the green tea leaves can be so beneficial to your body.

The process of EGCG forming in the tea leaves begins with a product of glycolysis (the breakdown of sugar by an enzyme named enolase): phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP). PEP then enters into the Shikimate enzymatic pathway to yield phenylalanine. Interestingly enough in the pharmaceutical industry this pathway is used to produce shikimic acid from the “star anise” plant that is used as a substrate in the production of the popular anti-flu drug oseltamivir (Tamiflu).

From Phenylalanine the process continues through the phenylpropanoid metabolic pathway from which 4-Coumaryl-CoQ is produced. When this compound combines with Malonyl-CoA it yields the true backbone of the flavonoid group known as the chalcones. Three-ring phenolic structures (what is commonly recognized and hence given the name poly-phenol) are produced when ring-closure occurs within these chalcone molecules.

The metabolic pathway continues through a series of several more enzymatic modifications to yield flavanones that yield dihydroflavonols that go on to produce anthocyanins. Along this enzymatic highway other products are formed, including the flavonols, flavan-3-ols, proanthocyanidins (the tannins) and of course the all-important polyphenolic EGCG.

Nevermind about the big words, just know that it’s a very important process that helps give green tea that extra boost that makes it so wonderful for the body.  Fascinating, isn’t it?  Well, maybe not so much, but now you can say you know why green tea is so good for your health.  But what exactly does green tea and the EGCG do for the human body?

Chapter 4 - Health Benefits of Green Tea

There are so many proven benefits of drinking green tea as a regular part of your diet, it can be mind-boggling.  Many, many studies have been done and the results are more than encouraging! 

Green tea is particularly rich in health-promoting flavonoids (which account for 30% of the dry weight of a leaf), including catechins – anti oxidants -  and their derivatives. The most abundant catechin in green tea is epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), which is thought to play a pivotal role in the green tea's anticancer and antioxidant effects. Catechins should be considered right alongside of the better-known antioxidants like vitamins E and C as potent free radical scavengers and health-supportive for this reason. 

Most of the research showing the health benefits of green tea is based on the amount of green tea typically consumed in Asian countries-about 3 cups per day (which would provide 240-320 mg of polyphenols – also an anti oxidant). Just one cup of green tea supplies 20-35 mg of EGCG, which has the highest antioxidant activity of all the green tea catechins.  

The health benefits of green tea have been extensively researched and, as the scientific community's awareness of its potential benefits has increased, so have the number of new studies. As of November 2004, the PubMed database contained more than 1,000 studies on green tea, with more than 400 published in 2004!

Green tea drinkers appear to have lower risk for a wide range of diseases, from simple bacterial or viral infections to chronic degenerative conditions including cardiovascular disease, cancer, stroke, periodontal disease, and osteoporosis. The latest studies provide a deeper understanding of the ways in which green tea can heal. 

In August, 2006, a European study found that tea is a healthier choice than almost any other beverage including pure water.  This is because tea not only re-hydrates as well as water, but it also provide a rich supply of polyphenols which help protect against heart disease and other ailments.  Now, a Japanese study done in September of 2006 suggests that drinking green tea lowers the risk of death due to all causes! 

In 1994, a Japanese scientist conducted a study following over 40,000 adults ranging in age from 40 to 79.  This study went on for eleven years and was conducted in northeastern Japan.  Within this region, 80 percent of the population drinks green tea with more than half consuming at least three cups per day. 

Compared with participants who drank leass than one cup of green tea per day, those drinking five cups or more had a significantly lower risk of death from all causes.  Specifically, the risk from cardiovascular disease was dramatically lowered with woment received even strong protection than men. 

Consider the following table which shows some of the results: 

While this study found no cancer-preventative benefit from drinking green tea, other large studies, especially one done in 2006, suggested that green tea reduced the risk of other types of cancer including breast cancer.  This study compared women who did not drink green tea to those consuming green tea.  Results showed that those consuming the most green tea were 22 percent less likely to develop breast cancer. 

Often in studies, the effects of a certain health-promoting behavior are likely to be complicated by the fact that those who try to follow a healthy lifestyle practice a variety of health habits normally.  In the study mentioned above, however, since green tea is the most commonly consumed beverage in Japan, it is unlikely that study participants were choosing to drink green tea primarily for their health.  It is also thus unlikely that the significant drop in risk of death to all causes was due to other habits related to health consciousness. 

Given that, it is obvious that green tea can provide significant health benefits even to those who are not especially health consciousness, just think about how it can protect your health when you are following a healthy lifestyle!  

If you generally start your day with a cup of coffee, try to instead having a cup of tea.  You’ll quickly discover green tea’s irresistible combination of invigorating and calming qualities – especially if you consume it throughout the day.  It could become one of your most favorite healthy habits quite quickly! 

When you consider the studies that have been done in the 21st century regarding the healing properties of green tea, it certainly can be fascinating to stand up and take notice of what exactly it is that green tea can do for you, your body, and preventing diseases.  Let’s now get specific.