Health Benefit of Green Tea: Cholesterol Reduction

Hundreds of millions of people drink tea worldwide, making it the second most consumed drink. Studies are now suggesting that green tea has numerous advantages for the body. One green tea feature that is being touted by a lot of people is its ability to reduce cholesterol levels. Here are the various study results that reveal the health benefit of green tea.

Research shows that the catechin polyphenol in green tea called epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) is the component that reduces the levels of LDL, also known as bad cholesterol. Aside from reducing cholesterol levels, drinking green tea also raises the levels of the good cholesterol known as HDL. The health benefit of green tea is apparent in one population-based study. It found that men who drink green tea are more likely to have lower levels of total cholesterol compared to those who do not drink green tea.

Studies have also shown the health benefit of green tea when it comes to the reduction of LDL levels. One study revealed that in male smokers, green tea had a considerable effect on their levels of harmful cholesterol. The study showed that the male smokers who drank green tea considerably lowered their blood levels of bad cholesterol.

A clinical trial also showed the health benefit of green tea in reducing LDL cholesterol. The researchers conducted a study using green tea extract enriched with theaflavin. The study involved men and women who had high cholesterol levels. The participants were randomly selected to receive soft gel capsule or a placebo. The capsule was an extract that contained catechins from green tea. The trial results revealed that participants, who were already on a low-fat diet during the course of the 12-week trial, were able to reduce their LDL cholesterol by 16 percent.

The following findings from various other studies further demonstrate the health benefit of green tea:

· Green tea polyphenols in green tea may prevent cholesterol from being absorbed in the intestines
· Polyphenols limit the negative effects of smoking and a fatty diet
· Epicatechins, also found in green tea, can help in the rapid excretion of bile salts and fatty acids that contain cholesterol

The health benefit of green tea in reducing cholesterol is also evident in the way the effects of drinking green tea is linked to the paradox involving French people and their love for fat-rich diets. Researchers were for a long time confused why French people managed to keep their rate of heart diseases lower than Americans. It was later discovered that red wine had something to do with the lesser occurrence of heart diseases in French people. Red wine was found to contain a substance called resveratrol, which is a polyphenol that regulates the adverse results of smoking and a fatty diet.

In an earlier study, researchers were able to determine that EGCG is even more potent as resveratrol. This is also considered as the reason why there is a low heart disease rate among Japanese men, despite the fact that roughly 75 percent of them are smokers.