Matcha is not your typical tea.It’s a special powdered green tea traditionally used in Japanese tea ceremonies; and as a fat-burner and even a cancer-fighter, matcha leaves other teas in its dust.
The secret behind matcha’s super strength is found in its polyphenol compounds, particularly catechins, a type of antioxidant found in superfoods like green tea, cocoa, and apples. Heralded for being more catechin-dense than most items, green tea (and especially matcha) provides unbelievable health benefits for people who regularly drink it.
Catechin Super Power
According to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the catechins in green tea (EGCG, EGC, ECG, and EC) are so powerful that it is believed that they actually help prevent cancer. It might seem outrageous that regularly drinking something as common as green tea can put you at a lesser risk, but it’s not that far-fetched.
The NCI provides the following explanation:
Weight Loss Benefits of Catechins
When it comes to boosting your metabolism and helping with weight loss, few things are more beneficial than matcha green tea. Comparing the effects of drinking one bottle of oolong tea containing 690 mg catechins versus drinking one bottle containing 22 mg catechins, the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition presented the results of an evaluation of thirty-five healthy Japanese men who were divided into two groups with similar BMI and waist circumference distributions.
They gave one group the 690 mg tea and the other group the 22 mg tea. After twelve weeks, they observed that body fat mass, BMI body weight subcutaneous fat area, and waist circumference were all “significantly lower” in the 690 mg catechin group than in the 22 mg group. Even more astounding were the modifications in LDL levels that changed because body fat mass and total fat area had decreased so dramatically.
From these results, researchers confidently concluded that, “Daily consumption of tea containing 690 mg catechins for twelve weeks reduced body fat, which suggests that the ingestion of catechins might be useful in the prevention and improvement of lifestyle-related diseases, mainly obesity.”
Not all Green Teas are Created Equal
Science has established that catechins found in green tea are of the utmost benefit to our health and wellbeing. It wasn’t until a decade ago, however, that researchers tackled the idea that one type of tea may be more advantageous than another.
To test the hypothesis that matcha is more catechin-dense than other green teas, researchers from the University of Colorado Springs conducted a comparison study between matcha and other common green teas utilizing micellar electrokinetic chromatography; a process that separated mixtures into their individual parts using various mediums.
Published in the Journal of Chromatography, the results were groundbreaking as the authors discovered that, “The concentration of EGCG available from drinking matcha is 137 times greater than the amount of EGCG available from China Green Tips green tea, and at least three times higher than the largest literature value for other green teas.”
More Amazing Benefits of Matcha
Another fascinating aspect of matcha green tea is that clinical tests suggest it can not only help speed recovery in athletes whose focus is high-intensity workouts like burst training, but also it has been shown to reverse cellular damage caused by oxidative-nitrosative stress. Oxidative-nitrosative stress is just a fancy term for the internal imbalance of free radicals and antioxidants, which is an imbalance that ultimately destroys cells, prevents their repair, and causes disease.
A study published in Basic and Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology evaluated the potential affect EGCG has on mice with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) that were forced to swim for six minutes a day for fifteen days straight. After this intense activity regimen, they discovered that the animals experienced significant increases in oxidative-nitrosative stress and tumor necrosis factor-alpha levels, which is a biochemical marker for cell death. Astoundingly, by administering continual dosages of EGCG, the researchers found that both of these alterations were literally reversed.
Because it contains some of the highest level of catechins of all natural antioxidant rich foods, there is every reason in the world to assume that drinking matcha regularly can greatly aid in workout recovery, burn fat, encourage strength at a cellular level, and even prevent chronic disease like cancer. So, if you’re looking to maximize the power of tea in your daily routine, then look no further than brewing up a nice, hot cup of matcha!
The secret behind matcha’s super strength is found in its polyphenol compounds, particularly catechins, a type of antioxidant found in superfoods like green tea, cocoa, and apples. Heralded for being more catechin-dense than most items, green tea (and especially matcha) provides unbelievable health benefits for people who regularly drink it.
Catechin Super Power
According to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the catechins in green tea (EGCG, EGC, ECG, and EC) are so powerful that it is believed that they actually help prevent cancer. It might seem outrageous that regularly drinking something as common as green tea can put you at a lesser risk, but it’s not that far-fetched.
The NCI provides the following explanation:
- The chemicals in green tea, especially EGCG and ECG, have substantial free radical scavenging capability and have been proven clinically to protect cells from DNA damage caused by reactive oxygen species.
- Tea polyphenols have also been shown to inhibit tumor cell development and induce apoptosis (cancer cell destruction) in laboratory and animal studies.
- The catechins in green tea activate detoxification enzymes, such as glutathione S-transferase and quinone reductase, which are praised for preventing tumor growth.
- Lastly, research has supported that the catechins in green tea not only protect against damage caused by ultraviolet (UV) B radiation, but also they can improve immune system function.
- That’s a pretty impressive list of attributes, right? If that were all matcha could do, that’d be a lot. But it does more than fight tumors. It also fights the battle of the bulge.
Weight Loss Benefits of Catechins
When it comes to boosting your metabolism and helping with weight loss, few things are more beneficial than matcha green tea. Comparing the effects of drinking one bottle of oolong tea containing 690 mg catechins versus drinking one bottle containing 22 mg catechins, the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition presented the results of an evaluation of thirty-five healthy Japanese men who were divided into two groups with similar BMI and waist circumference distributions.
They gave one group the 690 mg tea and the other group the 22 mg tea. After twelve weeks, they observed that body fat mass, BMI body weight subcutaneous fat area, and waist circumference were all “significantly lower” in the 690 mg catechin group than in the 22 mg group. Even more astounding were the modifications in LDL levels that changed because body fat mass and total fat area had decreased so dramatically.
From these results, researchers confidently concluded that, “Daily consumption of tea containing 690 mg catechins for twelve weeks reduced body fat, which suggests that the ingestion of catechins might be useful in the prevention and improvement of lifestyle-related diseases, mainly obesity.”
Not all Green Teas are Created Equal
Science has established that catechins found in green tea are of the utmost benefit to our health and wellbeing. It wasn’t until a decade ago, however, that researchers tackled the idea that one type of tea may be more advantageous than another.
To test the hypothesis that matcha is more catechin-dense than other green teas, researchers from the University of Colorado Springs conducted a comparison study between matcha and other common green teas utilizing micellar electrokinetic chromatography; a process that separated mixtures into their individual parts using various mediums.
Published in the Journal of Chromatography, the results were groundbreaking as the authors discovered that, “The concentration of EGCG available from drinking matcha is 137 times greater than the amount of EGCG available from China Green Tips green tea, and at least three times higher than the largest literature value for other green teas.”
More Amazing Benefits of Matcha
Another fascinating aspect of matcha green tea is that clinical tests suggest it can not only help speed recovery in athletes whose focus is high-intensity workouts like burst training, but also it has been shown to reverse cellular damage caused by oxidative-nitrosative stress. Oxidative-nitrosative stress is just a fancy term for the internal imbalance of free radicals and antioxidants, which is an imbalance that ultimately destroys cells, prevents their repair, and causes disease.
A study published in Basic and Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology evaluated the potential affect EGCG has on mice with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) that were forced to swim for six minutes a day for fifteen days straight. After this intense activity regimen, they discovered that the animals experienced significant increases in oxidative-nitrosative stress and tumor necrosis factor-alpha levels, which is a biochemical marker for cell death. Astoundingly, by administering continual dosages of EGCG, the researchers found that both of these alterations were literally reversed.
Because it contains some of the highest level of catechins of all natural antioxidant rich foods, there is every reason in the world to assume that drinking matcha regularly can greatly aid in workout recovery, burn fat, encourage strength at a cellular level, and even prevent chronic disease like cancer. So, if you’re looking to maximize the power of tea in your daily routine, then look no further than brewing up a nice, hot cup of matcha!
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