Nutrition. Vitamins. You.
Photo by Christin Hume on Unsplash Written by Luke Kornblatt You already know the saying, “Good things come in small packages.” That is certainly the case when it comes to herbal tinctures. At InVite® Health, our healthcare professionals understand the multiple health benefits one can …
Photo by Rawpixel on Unsplash A new study involving mice, suggests that EGCG (epigallocatechin-3-gallate), the most abundant catechin and biologically active component in green tea, could alleviate high-fat and high-fructose (HFFD)-induced insulin resistance and cognitive impairment. What is EGCG? After water, green tea is the …
Fall and Winter are extremely tough on the skin due to the harsh temperatures and dryness. Now that Spring has arrived you’re excited to take your hats and scarves off – only to reveal dry, cracked skin. So what can you do to restore your skins moisture and glow?
Thick creams in the winter are usually a staple in order to keep the moisture content of your skin high. But when the spring and summer comes, your skin will have different needs, allowing it to breathe in the warmer weather. Powerful, yet gentle moisturizers with antioxidants can provide you with a natural level of protection and hydration for your Spring skin care. The highest quality moisturizers are capable of effectively softening and smoothing dry skin, reducing collagen breakdown, and visibly minimizing fine lines and wrinkles. Look for ingredients like Grape Seed, Vitamin C, Vitamin E, and Alpha-Lipoic Acid that offers protection for healthy, smooth and even-tones skin. Be sure to stay away from harsh and dangerous ingredients like alcohol, parabens, sulfates, and benzoic acid.
Confused about common dangerous chemicals in your skin care products? Click here!
On the surface, studies have shown green tea (when added to skin care products) helps to improve the skin by rejuvenating old skin cells, removing damaged cells, and increasing collagen production of the skin. It has a great ability to improve texture, elasticity and overall appearance of the skin, which is why it should be a powerful ingredient in your skin care products. A Green Tea Cleanser made with Grape Seed extract, Sea Salt, Vitamin C, Witch Hazel, and over course, Green Tea provides antioxidant support without over-drying for Spring skin care. Again, stay away from harsh and dangerous ingredients like alcohol, parabens, sulfates, and benzoic acid.
Your skin is 64% water. It plays a vital role in digestion, blood circulation, absorption of nutrients and the elimination of toxins. When your skin cells aren’t sufficiently hydrated, the appearance of your skin suffers, making you look older than you are. Dr. Richard Besser, the chief health and medical editor at ABC News says, “When your blood gets thick and water-deficient from organs pulling water from it, the blood in turn pulls water from the skin cells. This causes your skin to look dry and your eyes to look darker and sunken in. Over time, the condition can age you faster. When your skin is dry, it is less resilient and elastic, making it prone to wrinkling.” This season, Spring skin care calls for more water!
If you’re looking for bright, glowing skin, look no further than a superior Toning Serum. A high-quality serum will provide you with 2-in-1 skin care – providing recovery from free radical and chemical damage and creating a bright skin tone and natural glow. When combined with Aloe Vera, natural Alpha-Hydroxy Acids, and Marine Collagen, your toner can help to regenerate Collagen for new skin cells, tone your skin, and act as a protective barrier. As always, stay away from harsh and dangerous ingredients like alcohol, parabens, sulfates, and benzoic acid.
Here’s Why Vitamin C Should Be a Primary Ingredient in Your Skin Care Products
If you walk down the aisles of any drug store or pharmacy, you’ll see countless bottles of Hair, Skin and Nails formulas. But what you are not seeing are the highest-quality ingredients available. When looking for a hair, skin and nails supplement, you want to be sure it contains Biotin, Zinc, MSM, Silicia and amino acids. Not only will these ingredients help to improve the look and growth of your hair, skin and nails, but they will also address potential nutrient deficiencies that are the cause of how brittle, dull and damaged they are. Biotin improves the strength of nails and helps to repair broken, fragile hair. Zinc is essential for healthy hair growth, and it accelerates the renewal of skin cells. MSM helps to slough off old skin cells, acting like a natural exfoliator from the inside, out. Amino acids like L-Proline and L-Lysine are crucial components for healthy and strong hair and skin.
InVite®’s decaffeinated Green Tea Extract provides powerful catechins, particularly Epigallocatechin gallate, or EGCG, which is the most valuable antioxidant component of green tea. This liquid green tea extract is also oxalate-free, fluoride-free and derived from an organic source. Dietary supplementation with 90mg of EGCG increases …
Written by Nicole Crane BS, NTP After water, green tea (along with its white and black variants) from the Camellia sinesis shrub, is the most consumed beverage in the world. There may be no beverage more salubrious. The tea plant is rich in valuable antioxidants …
Green tea is one of nature’s most superior foods, with a diverse range of benefits that support overall health and longevity, proven by numerous clinical trials. New studies further support evidence that green tea can support weight loss and fat burn.
Green tea grows in rainy areas, tropical and subtropical, throughout the world. However, Japan, India and China are the most well-known sources of green tea. Green tea has very high concentrations of antioxidants, known as catechins. The most important is EGCG. According to Amanda Williams, MPH, Director of Nutrition for InVite Health, EGCG has an antioxidant activity of about “25 to 100 times greater than that of Vitamins E and C, respectively.”
Green tea and its major antioxidant EGCG have been the subject of numerous human clinical studies. EGCG has been shown to inhibit the uptake of fat into fat cells and, at higher doses, has been shown to support fat burn and reduce a person’s waistline – sometimes considerably, according to Pharmacist and Scientific Director of InVite® Health, Jerry Hickey.
Green tea quickly travels throughout your system and offers superior protection for the digestive tract, a man’s prostate, a women’s breasts, and cervical tissue. It also has a beneficial effect for upper respiratory tract infections and during the cold and flu season. Green tea controls the bacteria associated with bad breath and gum disease and is hard on problematic bacteria in the digestive tract, including yeasts, yet ignores the intestine’s healthy bacteria required for proper digestion. Green tea has also been shown to improve the health of the skin, rejuvenating old skin cells and improving its texture.†
According to the International Diabetes Federation, the worldwide definition of metabolic syndrome is a cluster of the most dangerous heart attack risk factors – diabetes, prediabetes, abdominal obesity, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure. In a small study of 45 elderly hospital patients diagnosed with metabolic syndrome and using criteria from the International Diabetes Federation, researchers from the Geriatrics and Gerontology Institute, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande de Sul, green tea users lost about 3lbs and an inch on their waistline, in comparison to those who did not consume green tea. Participants were instructed to consume three cups of concentrated green tea per day for 60 days. The study is published in the Journal of Nutrition Health and Aging.
Published in the American journal Physiology and Behavior, medical researchers in Thailand placed 60 obese subjects on the same controlled diet; one group was placed on a green tea regimen and the other was given an inactive, placebo. By the 12th week of the study, those consuming green tea lost 7.26 more pounds than those on the diet alone. There was no difference in the level of satiation, amount of physical activity, or calorie intake between the two groups. The green tea achieved its effect by, researchers report, “burning more calories and reducing body fat levels.”
If you are questioning whether green tea is best by the cup or from a supplement, here’s some research that you should be aware of. While making green tea by brewing tea leaves still contains important components of green tea, water temperature, steeping time, and brand of tea leaves have been shown to affect not only the flavor of the green tea, but the quantities of compounds present in the tea itself.
In one study, “brewed tea contained 87-106mg of polyphenols per gram of green tea dry matter, of which 52-84 mg were catechins. Per gram of green tea dry matter, 11-20mg of caffeine was also extracted. Considering a proportion of 3g of dry tea leaves per cup of green tea, the study proposed that an estimated 405g of catechins could be consumed per day within 2 cups of green tea”.†
Another study found that the primary green tea catechin content from supplements ranged from 27.9-484.9mg per serving. High-quality green tea supplements are made with concentrated polyphenol or catechin extracts. These high-quality supplements are purified to remove non-essential and harmful ingredients like aluminum and heavy metals and is decaffeinated. The more rigorously tested supplements are standardized to ensure the supplement contains a certain percentage of polyphenols in each capsule/dropper.†
The evidence speaks for itself. But, if you need more assistance, we’re here to help! Speak with a certified nutritionist or naturopathic doctor today!
Sources
Gadkari PV, et al. (2014). Catechin concentrates of garden tea leaves (Camellia sinensis L.): extraction/isolation and evaluation of chemical composition. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture. 94:2921-2928. doi: 10.1002/jsfa.6633.
Grand View Research. (2014). Tea Polyphenols Market Analysis By Application (Functional beverages, Functional food, Dietary supplements) By Product (Green tea, Oolong tea, Black tea) and Segment Forecasts to 2020.
Henning SM, et al. (2004). Bioavailability and antioxidant activity of tea flavanols after consumption of green tea, black tea, or a green tea extract supplement. Am J Clin Nutr. 80(6):1558-1564.