Who doesn’t know about green tea? Yes, green tea is one of the most healthiest beverages that you could consume in the world right now. Green tea has a lot of varieties, depends on where this herbal tea is produced. Although green tea is originated from China and it is largely produced there, but Japan is also becoming the main producer of green tea. In fact, Japan becomes the second biggest producer of green tea, just behind China. Thus, there is no surprise that you will easily find Japanese green tea in the nearest market in your country.
Nutrition Value of Japanese Green Tea
Japanese green tea itself has a lot of variations, such as Sencha, Gyokuro, Houjicha, and Matcha. Each variation has different values on its nutrition. If you want to see the difference in the nutritional value between all of the variations of Japanese green tea, you could check it in the table below:
|
Name (per 100 g of tea leaves) |
Vitamin A
(µg) |
Vitamin C
(mg) |
Vitamin E
(mg) |
Vitamin B1
(mg) |
Vitamin B2
(mg) |
Vitamin B3
(mg) |
| Sencha | 13.200 | 260 | 68.1 | 0.36 | 1.43 |
4.1 |
|
Gyokuro |
21.000 | 110 | 16.6 | 0.30 | 1.16 | 6.0 |
| Houjicha | 6.700 | 44 | – | 0.10 | 0.82 |
5.6 |
|
Matcha |
29.000 | 60 | 28.1 | 0.60 | 1.35 |
4.0 |
So, after you know all of the nutritional value of each variation of Japanese green tea, then we bet that you already know that Japanese green tea has a lot of health benefits. In the lists below, you will find tons of benefits that the Japanese green tea would offer to your body and your mind. Check this out for Japanese green tea benefits.
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1. Full of Antioxidants
Everybody knows that the main benefit from Japanese green tea comes from its antioxidant. The powerful antioxidants contained in Japanese green tea would be beneficial to fight against the harmful free radicals, thanks to its catechins and flavonoids compound. Free radicals would be very harmful for your health since it will stimulate the development of many health conditions. Also, these harmful chemicals are the main cause of the sign of aging in your skin.
In the matter of fact, many research studies have concluded that the Epigallocatechin Galate (EGCG) that contained in Japanese green tea is one of the most powerful antioxidants. That compound becomes the main reason why the The health benefits of Japanese green tea, has such a powerful medicinal properties.
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2. Fight Against Cancer
It turns out that Japanese green tea would also be beneficial to treat and protect you from various kinds of cancer. Although further study is needed, but the detoxification enzymes from Japanese green tea are believed to be the main factor behind this benefit. According to research studies, consuming Japanese green tea would protect all of women from breast cancer. This is because Japanese green tea contains polyphenols which will slow down the proteins which are becoming the part of tumor cell growth.
In addition to that, all men will be protected from prostate cancer because of this herbal tea. This is because Japanese green tea is believed to be very potent to lower the prostate antigen, which is commonly linked with prostate tumor growth.
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3. Boost Your Brain Performance
Is it very tempting to know the fact that drinking a tea would make you smarter than before? Maybe it sounds exaggerating, but it is true that Japanese green tea would be beneficial to boost your brain’s performance. This is because Japanese green tea contains an amino acid called L-theanine that will combine with caffeine. Many research studies have shown that the combination between caffeine and L-theanine in the green tea can improve the brain function. Specifically, caffeine itself is well known as a stimulant, which will improve the brain function. On the other hand, L-theanine would be beneficial to improve the production of alpha waves in the brain.
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4. Sharpen Your Memory
This benefit of Japanese green tea is closely related to the benefit that already mentioned above. In the matter of fact, this benefit of Japanese green tea has already been proved by the Department of Psychiatry, University of Basel Switzerland. In a study conducted by them, the result shows that the green tea would be beneficial to increase the connectivity in the cortices of the brain, which are an essential part of the brain that associated with memory. Also, the male volunteers that consumed green tea showed the significant improvement of their performances on working memory task.
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5. Prevents Neurodegenerative Disorders
Aside from its benefit to boost the brain function and sharpen the memory, Japanese green tea has another benefit for your brain. Yes, it turns out that Japanese green tea would protect the health of your brain from neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. As you already know, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s are the most common neurodegenerative disorder that would occur in humans, especially among elderly.
So, the catechin compound that contained in Japanese green tea would protect your brain from these disorders. According to many research studies, the catechin compound in a green tea showed promising effects on neurons, which then will lower the risk of you having neurodegenerative disorders in the future.
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6. Prevents Diabetes
If you want to stay away from severe health conditions such as diabetes, then starting to consume Japanese green tea in a regular basis would be very good choice. This is because green tea could regulate the blood sugar level in our body. Also, the powerful antioxidants from this herbal tea would ensure that your pancreas is always in a good condition. Maintaining the health of the pancreas would be very important, because pancreas would regulate the secretion of insulin. If the secretion of insulin is well controlled, then you will be less likely to develop the diabetes, especially the type II diabetes.
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7. Promotes Weight Loss
Whenever you want to have a healthy diet or you want to lose some weight, then consuming Japanese green tea would greatly support your mission. This is because the fact that Japanese green tea has thermogenic properties, which will improve the effectiveness of the metabolism of your body. Whenever you have a great body metabolism, then the consumption of the fat storage on your body would be faster and thus, you will have less fat in your body. Aside from that, the caffeine contained in Japanese green tea would be beneficial too to burn the fat. So, it is very good if you consume this herbal tea on a daily routine alongside with doing exercises.
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8. Anti-Bacterial Properties
Whenever you have some diseases that caused by the bacteria infections, probably you always use antibiotics in order to cure it. But, there is a healthier way to cure and alleviate all of the health conditions related to bacterial infections. Yes, consuming Japanese green tea would be very beneficial to protect you from bacterial infections.
This is because this herbal tea contains a powerful antioxidant called catechins. In the matter of fact, many research studies have shown that this antioxidant can kill the bacteria and viruses. Also, these catechins would stick themselves into the films that will cover the bacteria. Thus, you will be prevented from infections caused by bacteria in the future.
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9. Good for Your Teeth
There is no surprise that Japanese green tea would be beneficial to support the health of your teeth. As already mentioned above, Japanese green tea contains anti-bacterial properties, which will protect your teeth from the harmful bacteria. For your information, Streptococcus mutans is the most common bacteria that would do harmful things in your mouth.
This is because this bacteria would form a plaque in your teeth and thus, it will cause a tooth decay in the future. So, many research studies have shown that Japanese green tea would be very beneficial in order to inhibit the growth of Streptococcus mutans. Thus, you will be prevented from health issues associated with your teeth. Also read: Health Benefits of Bamboo Tea
10. Beneficial for Skin Health
It turns out that Japanese green tea would bring a lot of positive effects on your skin too. This because Japanese green tea contains a high amount of Vitamin C, five times higher than Vitamin C that contained in lemon. As you already know, Vitamin C would be beneficial to stimulate the production of collagen, a protein which will make your skin smoother and firmer. Also, as already mentioned above, Japanese green tea contains a powerful antioxidant called catechins. This antioxidant would protect your skin from harmful free radicals. As you already know, free radicals would speed up the sign of aging in your skin.
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11. Anti-Ageing Properties
Aside from its benefit for the overall health of your skin, there is no surprise that Japanese green tea would also protect you from the early sign of ageing. As you already know, the early sign of ageing comes whenever your skin is exposed with the harmful free radicals. Thus, the wrinkles, fine lines, and dullness would appear in your skin. Japanese green tea would be beneficial to fight against free radicals because of its powerful antioxidants. In the matter of fact, the specific antioxidant called catechins contained in Japanese green tea has an effect 20 times more powerful than the usual Vitamin E.
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12. Protect the Health of Your Heart
Aside from its benefit to protect you from diabetes, the Japanese green tea would also be very good to protect the health of your heart. As you already know, cardiovascular disease is one of the most deadliest diseases right now. So, as already mentioned above, Japanese green tea contains powerful antioxidants. These antioxidants would prevent the bad cholesterol (LDL) to oxidate. For your information, the oxidation of bad cholesterol is the main source that leads you to heart disease. In fact, there is one study that concluded people who were consumed green tea had 31% lower risk of having cardiovascular disease.
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13. Relaxing Effect
Having a bad and stressful day? Then you need to relax a little bit and consuming Japanese green tea would be beneficial to calm your mind. This is because Japanese green tea contains a compound called theanine. This natural chemical would alleviate all of the stressful feelings inside your mind by promoting the alpha waves into your brain. Thus, it will make you more calm. In addition to that, the combination of mild, bitterness, and sweet taste of Japanese green tea would absolutely recharge your stamina and make you become more energized than before.
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14. Boost Your Immunity
There is no surprise that Japanese green tea would be beneficial to improve your immune system. As already mentioned above, Japanese green tea contains anti-bacterial properties, which will be very beneficial to protect the cell walls from the infection of bacteria and viruses. In fact, Japanese green tea could kill all of the bacteria and viruses that will do harm against your body. In addition to that, the specific antioxidant called catchins would counter all of the toxins released from microbes. Because of these reasons, you will be protected from various diseases caused by bacteria and viruses such as diarrhea, dysentry, common cold, flu, cough, tooth decay, and many more.
15. Prevents Cholesterol
It turns out that Japanese green tea maybe would be beneficial to protect you from diabetes, one of the most deadliest health condition. This is because cholesterol would lead you to more severe health issues, such as stroke, heart disease, and many more. Although further study is needed, but Japanese green tea would be important to reduce the bad cholesterol levels (LDL). Many studies have shown that the effectiveness of Japanese green tea to protect you from diabetes comes from its alkalinity. In addition to that, many observational studies have shown that green tea would prevent you from having a heart disease.
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16. Improves Blood Circulation
Whenever you feel drowsy during the day or throughout the day, then maybe it is a good time to take a rest and drinking Japanese green tea. Yes, Japanese green tea would be very good to improve the blood circulation and makes you become more energized than before. This is because this herbal tea contains caffeine and tannins, two compounds that will act as stimulants. These stimulants would improve the blood circulation and will alleviate all of the laziness, sleepiness, and fatigue that you feel as soon as possible. But, you need to keep in mind that these caffeine and tannins would potentially cause a bad effect for your health, if you consume it excessively.
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17. Boost Your Endurance
Do you have a problem with your stamina whenever doing something? Do you feel tired easily when doing exercise? Well, if you have those problems, then you need to consume Japanese green tea on a regular basis as soon as possible. This is because Japanese green tea would improve your stamina and thus, it will improve your endurance too. In the matter of fact, this herbal tea can counter the muscular pain because of overexertion of muscles and you wouldn’t feel tired easily. Because of this benefit, there is no surprise that in Japan, Japanese green tea becomes a primary energy drink for athletes from various kinds of sport.
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18. Protect the Health of Your Gastrointestinal
There is no doubt that health issues related to your stomach are very common. Health conditions such as diarrhea, constipation, bloating, or inflammatory bowel disease are very common. If you have a constant problem with those health conditions, the consuming Japanese green tea would be a very good choice.
This is because Japanese green tea has a powerful anti-bacterial properties, which would kill all of the bacteria that will do harm in your gastrointestinal. Also, many research studies have shown that catechins contained in green tea could lower the risk of having colitis or Crohn’s disease, one of the dangerous stomach issues. Also, since Japanese green tea contains anti-cancer properties, it will protect you from colon cancer.
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19. Detoxifying Properties
Japanese green tea also has an excellent detoxifying properties. So, for all of you who often have a problem with hangover soon after you consume alcoholic drinks, then consume Japanese green tea would counteract the effect of those alcoholic drinks. Whenever you feel that you’re about to start to have a hangover, then consume Japanese green tea as soon as possible so that your hangover will quickly fade. In the matter of fact, the combination of Japanese green tea and lemon would boost the detoxifying properties of the green tea. So, there is no surprise that Japanese green tea plus lemon become a very popular drink to alleviate all of the bad effects from alcoholic drinks.
20. Improves Longevity
Do you want to live a long happy life? Well, if you say yes, then consuming Japanese green tea as soon as possible on a regular basis would be beneficial. This is because this herbal tea would help you to live longer, since it will prevent you from cardiovascular disease and various cancers. In the matter of fact, according to many studies in Japan, people who drank more than 5 glasses of green tea per day were significantly less likely to die during the 11 years of the study period. Specifically, women will have 31% lower risk of having cardiovascular and men will have 22% of having cardiovascular disease if they consume Japanese green tea in a regular basis.
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Warnings and Side Effects of Japanese Green Tea
After you read all of the health benefits of Japanese green tea, we bet that you would like to consume this herbal tea as soon as possible. But, as any other healthy beverages, you also need to consider some side effects that you would probably get whenever you consume it. Also, certain people with specific health issues basically are not allowed to drink this tea because this tea will cause some side effects. In the information below, you will find side effects and warnings related to Japanese green tea.
1. People With Anemia Shouldn’t Consume Japanese Green Tea.
Well, this is true that whenever you’re having anemia, you should not consume Japanese green tea. This is because Japanese green tea contains tannins, which will block the absorption of iron. Because of that, you will be more likely to suffer from iron deficiency, which then will lead you to anemia.
2. People with Liver Problem Shouldn’t Consume Japanese Green Tea
Aside from anemia, Japanese green tea would be unsafe to consume for people with a constant liver problem. This is because the catechins contained in a green tea would target the mitochondria in your body. That thing would disrupt the metabolic process and thus, it will lead you to liver failure. In fact, a study conducted in the USA concluded that there is a correlation between catechins and liver damage.
3. Could Lead You to Osteoporosis
This fact is weird but sadly, it is true. Consuming Japanese green tea excessively would lead you to osteoporosis. This is because the more you consume Japanese green tea, the more calcium will be flushed out from your body via urine. This thing, undoubtedly, would make you suffer from calcium deficiency. Whenever you don’t have enough calcium in your body, then the probability of you having osteoporosis in the future would be increased.
4. Possible Unsafe for Pregnant Women.
Having a baby probably become one of the biggest dream for every recently-married woman. Thus, there is no doubt that they will consume healthy foods and beverages during their pregnancy period. But, it turns out that consuming green tea whenever you’re getting pregnant is possibly unsafe. Consuming green tea excessively during pregnancy would probably lead you to miscarriage. So, whenever you’re getting pregnant, it is better to not consume Japanese green tea.
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So, now you already know all of the health benefits of Japanese green tea, as well as the side effects of this healthy beverage. It turns out that this herbal tea would offer you a lot of positive effects for your body, although you also need to take a notice about its side effects. So, start to consume Japanese green tea as soon as possible and feel the improvement from your body. Stay healthy!