Drink to Your Health
When you`re sick a good cup of tea always helps you feel better, but now new research indicates it could help you live a longer, independent life too. Revered and renowned for its health benefits, green tea has long been acknowledged by the Japanese as a way to stay healthy, and now they`ve got the science to back it up.
Green tea contains the antioxidant known as epigallocatechin 3-0 gallate (aka EGCG) and has been proven in numerous studies to help protect against a multitude of diseases such as progressive liver and kidney damage, decrease liver glucose, cholesterol levels and may help treat and prevent multiple sclerosis by protecting brain cells.
A recent study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, that was conducted on close to 14,000 adults age 65 or older for three years at the Yasutake Tomata of the Tohoku University Gradute School of Medicine revealed that those who regularly drank green tea were less likely to develop ``functional`` disabilities or issues with daily activities/basic needs like dressing and bathing.
Of course there were other key factors that played a role in this success; people who drink green tea are more inclined to lead healthier lifestyles like eating right and exercising, but the study also showed that those who drank an average of 5 cups a day were one-third less likely to develop functional disabilities compared to those who only drank one cup a day. People who drank an average of 3-4 cups daily showed a 25% lower risk.
To read the full study visitwww.ajcn.org/content/early/2012/01/24/ajcn.111.023200 and speak to your doctor about the health benefits of incorporating green tea into your diet, especially if you take a blood thinner such as Plavix, since it does contain a small amount of vitamin K which is a natural blood thinner.
