Nutrition. Vitamins. You.
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.
After water, green tea is the most consumed beverage in the world; and there’s good reason for it! The tea plant is rich in valuable antioxidants that tout numerous health benefits from immunity to oral health to weight management. And the evidence is very impressive. …
*Image: Huffington Post The scientific link between alcohol and breast cancer is strong, but most of the research backing it has been done in caucasian women, not diverse groups of women. Now, in a new analysis published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, scientists find …
Amanda Williams holds a doctorate in medicine from Xavier University in Aruba, a Master’s degree in Public Health from Nova Southeastern University, and a Bachelor’s degree in biology from St. Mary’s College Orchard Lake. Her background in disease state management allows for a unique nutritional approach to many of the most common health concerns. She has successfully completed training as an instructor in Diabetes Self-Management through Stanford University. To stay on top of the wellness world, she continues to obtain medical education credits through the American Academy of Anti-Aging. Amanda is currently the Director of Nutrition for InVite®’s Boca Raton store. Email Amanda Williams: [email protected]
Teas have been consumed for centuries throughout the world. We have all probably heard of the potential health benefits tea may provide for our bodies. In fact, a systematic analysis of green tea polyphenols showed that 15 separate polyphenols from green tea target 200 human genes. These targets were classified into six groups according to their related disease, which included cancer, diabetes, neurodegenerative disease, cardiovascular disease, muscular disease, and inflammation. Green tea has been studied the most extensively of all of the teas. Many have come to realize the potent antioxidant capabilities that green tea offers. Of course it’s most famous polyphenol is EGCG.
EGCG, short for Epigallocatechin 3-Gallate, is the most potent of the green tea polyphenols, and has been the direct subject of the extensive research conducted on green tea. The interesting thing about EGCG is that it appears to affect a number of molecular processes, including induction of tumor cell apoptosis and inhibition of tumor growth, invasion, and angiogenesis, and research is under way to define the precise molecular processes affected. EGCG has an antioxidant activity about 25 and 100 times greater than that of vitamins E and C, respectively, and is the most potent of all the catechins.
Clinical Study: EGCG from Green Tea may decrease the risk of bladder cancer
What we do know is that arthritis affects close to 50 million people in the U.S. alone and it is expected to continue rising. We know currently the medical community focuses on NSAID’s (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs), and immunosuppressant’s such as Enbrel, to target RA and OA. What we also know is that EGCG from green tea has been studied extensively in terms of regulating the expression of cytokines, chemokines, reactive oxygen species, COX2 and prostaglandins. Hence, the inflammatory mediators in the body.
One of the most unique functions of EGCG in the body is that multiple studies have proven that EGCG is highly effective at “turning off” the HMGB1 switch that induces chronic inflammation. HMGB1 stands for “High Mobility Group Box-1”. HMGB1 turns on the release of chemical signals called cytokines that generate inflammation in your body. It releases inflammatory cytokines during an acute inflammatory response which is great. The problem is if and when there is cellular damage the HMGB1 will leak out of the cell and cause chronic inflammation, which is not a good thing at all. What we know is that HMGB1 is now looked at as one of the most powerful agents in accelerated aging or INFLAMMAGING.
Read more: Chronic Inflammation: The Slow Burn of Disease by Nicole Crane, BS, NTP
Elevated HMGB1 levels have now been found to be associated with many acute and chronic inflammation-related disorders, including: asthma, COPD, heart disease, diabetes, cancer, autoimmune diseases, neurodegenerative disorders, and inflammatory bowel disorders. Two very recent studies from the Department of Emergency Medicine, North Shore University Hospital on Long Island, New York; University School of Medicine, New York; and the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, Manhasset, New York, looked at the therapeutic role of targeting HMGB1 in sepsis. Sepsis and severe sepsis are leading causes of death in the United States and the most common cause of death among critically ill patients in non-coronary intensive care units. Sepsis occurs at an estimated rate of 300 cases per every 100,000 patients in the United States. It is remarkable that researchers are now looking outside of the box to find alternative therapies to target sepsis.
This is very exciting information as well as a breakthrough in scientific findings regarding EGCG from green tea and its profound benefits on our health. As we are becoming ever more aware of the direct connection between accelerated aging and chronic inflammation. We need to be cognizant of the nutrients available to us that help to keep us away from the pro- inflammatory state that drives up the likelihood of chronic disease.
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