Green tea powder benefits have been the subject of numerous studies by the scientific community. It is made from finely ground leaves of the tea plant Camellia sinensis. Green tea powder is used to flavor and color many different food products and is also used to prepare a type of green tea beverage called matcha. Green tea powder contains the powerful antioxidant properties that have brought attention to green tea as a healthy beverage.
History
Powdered green tea appears to have been developed as a way to store and preserve green tea in China and was brought to Japan by Buddhist monks. In Japan, matcha, or green tea powder has become a popular beverage where it it whisked in a bowl with hot water into a frothy, creamy, strong tea. Green tea powder is also added to foods like ice cream and soba noodles giving them a bright green color and imparting some of its health benefits into these non-tea products.
Skin Cancer
Green tea powder contains substances known as polyphenols that have shown to be effective in preventing damage to the skin that may result in skin cancer. In an article published in the P&S Journal in 1997, researchers applied a topical extraction of green tea polyphenols to the skin of mice before subjecting them to radiation that was designed to cause skin damage. They found that the tea extract inhibited skin damage significantly. The researchers also found that adding green tea extract to the water of the mice seven days before radiation exposure also protected their skin.
Obesity
Green tea powder contains concentrated amounts of polyphenols that have been found to play a role in overall body weight and fat accumulation. In a study done at Shizuoka University in Japan, in 2004, researchers fed mice a diet that contained 2 percent green tea powder. They found that the mice received a suppressive effect on body weight gain and fat accumulation from several of the compounds in the green tea powder; catechins, caffeine and theanine.
Diabetes
Diabetes is a condition that is growing at an epidemic rate throughout the industrialized world. However, research shows that the polyphenols in green tea powder may offer some protective effects against this potentially debilitating disease by profoundly effecting glucose( blood sugar) and insulin levels in human blood. A study published in the October 2005, Journal of Nutritional Science and Vitaminology examined adults who were given green tea powder on a daily basis. They found that after two months the patients given the green tea powder had lower blood sugar, blood pressure and insulin levels.
Potential
Green tea powder is a powerful and portable source of the potent polyphenol compounds that are found in the leaves of the green tea plant. As a daily beverage, a flavoring for food or even as a base for a topical green tea paste, the potential for using green tea powder to supplement a healthy lifestyle shows promising benefits.
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