Green tea drinkers show less disability with age: study

Elderly adults who regularly drink green tea may stay more agile and independent than their peers over time, a large study of Japanese adults suggests. 

Green tea contains certain antioxidant chemicals -- particularly a compound known as EGCG -- that may help ward off the body-cell damage that can lead to disease. And researchers have been studying green tea's effects on everything from cholesterol to the risk of certain cancers -- with mixed results so far. 

For the new study, Japanese researchers looked at a different question: Do green-tea drinkers have any lower risk of frailty and disability as they grow old? 

Following nearly 14,000 adults age 65 and older, they found that people who drank the most green tea were the least likely to develop "functional disability" over the next three years. 

Functional disability refers to problems with daily activities like going to the store or doing housework, or difficulty with more-basic needs like dressing and bathing. 

In this study, almost 13 percent of adults who drank less than a cup of green tea per day became functionally disabled. That compared with just over 7 percent of people who drank at least five cups per day. 

That alone does not prove that green tea keeps you spry into your golden years. 

But the study, reported in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, did account for a range of factors that could explain the connection. 

Green-tea lovers generally had healthier diets -- more fish, vegetables and fruit -- as well as more education, lower smoking rates, fewer heart attacks and strokes and greater mental sharpness. 

They also tended to be more socially active and have more friends and family to rely on. (Studies have found that older adults with more "social support" are less likely to become disabled.) 

But even with those factors considered, green tea itself was tied to a lower disability risk, according to the researchers, led by Yasutake Tomata of Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine. 

People who drank at least five cups a day were one-third less likely to develop disabilities than those who had less than a cup a day. And people who averaged three or four cups a day had a 25 percent lower risk. 

All of that hints at a real effect of green tea. But ultimately, Tomata's team writes, definitive proof can come only from clinical trials testing the effects of green tea, or green tea extracts, on disability risk. 

If green tea does offer a buffer against disability, it's not clear how. 

But one recent study found that green tea extracts seemed to boost leg muscle strength in older women, notes Tomata's team, who could not be reached for comment. 

In general, green tea is considered safe in moderate amounts. But the tea and its extracts do contain caffeine, which some people may need to avoid. 

Green tea also contains small amounts of vitamin K, which means it could interfere with drugs that prevent blood-clotting, like warfarin. Since many elderly people are on multiple medications, it's wise for them to talk with their doctors before using green tea as a health tonic.

references: www.yahoonews.com

Green Tea Fast Facts

Here are some great benefits, tips and cooking secrets when it comes to green tea:

• The International Journal of Obesity mentions green tea as having poly phenols which produce extra heat in the body and burn calories
• Green tea leaves contain Epigallocatechin gallate, or EGCG, which may be able to obliterate cancer cells without disturbing neighboring tissues
• The University of Geneva showed some studies which prove that people on green tea diets are more likely to use up fats than people not using green tea
• EGCD also helps with escalating the twenty four hour energy outflow of the body
• Green tea reduces the risk of strokes
• It also has a favorable effect on hypertension and LDL cholesterol
• Green tea carries catechin polyphenols which can help delay the reaction of gastric and pancreatic lipases, which are enzymes responsible for converting calories into fats
• Catechin also destroys the bacteria which can cause food poisoning. It also eradicates the toxins produced by these bacteria
• Catechin may be able to stop cancer cells from further growth
• Green tea contains caffeine in moderate quantity, which works as an appetite suppressant (high quantities of caffeine, for example in coffee, can cause medical problems including hyper tension and insomnia)
• Green tea is also good for maintaining good oral hygiene. It contains fluorine, which prevents cavities. It also carries ingredients which suppress plaque formation and bacteria which cause bad breath
• Polysaccharides and other ingredients in green tea help lower blood sugar
• Green tea is rich in the anti oxidant Vitamin E, which slows the aging process
• Cleveland’s Western Reserve conducted a study which shows that having four cups of green tea each day prevents the oncoming of rheumatoid arthritis and can also reduce symptoms in individuals who already have this medical condition
• For four thousand years, Chinese people have been using green tea for treating headaches and even depression
• While the other tea leaves are fermented, green tea leaves are steamed and they retrieve their original medicinal capabilities
• Green tea is also good for your heart
• It improves the function of your immune system
• Green tea diets have certain compounds which promote thermogenesis in the body
• These compounds increase your body’s regular metabolism and also suppress the appetite. This is why it is considered a great diet inclusion
• It has been discovered that men receiving regular dosages of green tea diet support had a significant four percent raise in their 24-hour energy expenditure
• They also found that green tea diet aid reduces the respiration quotient. This means that green tea diet aid causes more fats to burn
• In another study, it was shown that men who were not given green tea diet aid showed only minimal increases in their metabolic rates and almost no reduction in their respiration quotient
• Some substances in green tea modify how the body utilizes the hormone norepinephrine, which is responsible for escalating metabolism and hence leading to diet aid
• These ingredients in green tea help increase the speed of fat and calorie burning and optimize diet aid
• Mega-T Green Tea, another type of green tea, carries a high amount of Green Tea extract which helps curb your appetite.
• This type of Green Tea also contains chromium
• Chromium in Mega-T Green Tea helps reduce fats by increasing your metabolic rates. Hence, when you use Mega-T Green Tea, fat-burning happens more rapidly than usual
• Another useful ingredient of Mega-T Green Tea is the herb Garcinia Cambogia. This herb in Mega-T Green Tea helps you overcome food cravings
• When you use green tea, you do not need to worry about overeating, because Green Tea lets you know when your stomach has had enough. This basically means that you can always be sure to eat just the right amount of food. And we all know that lesser food intake means lesser fats storage in the body
• Taking fewer calories usually means you have lower energy levels. This means you won’t have any energy to do your weight loss exercises. But green tea contains guarana, which is a well known energy booster
• This way, green tea will give you the energy you need in order to exercise and lose some more pounds
• Siberian Ginseng in green tea gives you a lot of stamina for hard work
• More stamina means more work done
• It boosts your energy
• It also has diuretics which induce sweating, which causes your body perspire and lose liquid weight when you work out
• Most green tea packages come with diet suggestions in the box which, are the original methods of weight loss
• Green tea diet happens to be an excellent source of polycatechin polyphenols, a group of antioxidants which act on free radicals
• Free radicals have harmful effects on the body, since they are the major causes of diseases and aging
• The presence of polycatechin polyphenols in green tea diets gives individuals a better chance of circumventing disorders and keeping themselves healthy for a much longer period of time
• The EGCG in green tea diet also acts with the famous compound caffeine. Interaction of these two compounds causes a green tea diet to encourage thermogenesis in the body
• But no diet can work like a complete miracle. Green tea diets, like all other ones, work best together with additional work outs and diet consciousness from most individuals
• Green tea diets require restraint and compassion to make any significant impact on your weight loss goals
• Weight loss experts and dieticians all agree that weight loss supplements greatly help the dieter in his continuing battle for a toned body
• Green tea extract is the most prominent of the major supplements available on the market
• Green tea has been historically used as a remedy for indigestion, depression and headaches
• It is considered an excellent organic alternative to weight loss supplements
• A journal on the health benefits of plants called Phytomedicine conducted a recent study and published the results which said that people who take green tea extract as weight loss supplement ideally lose about two-and-a-half pounds a month
• Green tea weight loss supplements come in standardized tablets or in capsule forms
• You should always try to choose a green tea weight loss supplement which has ninety milligrams of EGCG and fifty milligrams of caffeine
• Green tea weight loss supplements are normally taken three times a day before meals
• Though green tea weight loss supplements have zero adverse side effects, it is still advised to talk with your doctor before taking them.

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