How much green tea?

How much green tea? Green tea is good for you, but only if drunk in moderation. While the polyphenols in green tea are credited with preventing heart disease and cancer, it seems they can cause liver and kidney damage if consumed in very large quantities, a review of studies into the toxicity of polyphenols has shown.

"People shouldn't be too alarmed by this, but those taking supplements may experience problems," says lead author Chung Yang of Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.

He stresses that up to 10 small cups of green tea a day is fine. Problems are likely in people who take supplements, which can contain up to 50 times as much polyphenol as a single cup of tea.

Yang's review cites experiments in which rodents and dogs died from liver poisoning when given very large doses of polyphenols. He also reports cases of people with liver toxicity after overdosing on green-tea-based supplements. Their symptoms disappeared when they stopped taking the pills, only to return when they started taking them again

Green Tea Benefits

The benefits of green tea is extensively researched in China and Japan. It has been shown to positively effect many systems in the body and to inhibit the progression of some diseases. It contains among the highest concentrations of minerals and antioxidants, which have proven to benefit the body , which helps you become healthy.  The following are some of the health benefits of green tea:

ENHANCE YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM
Antioxidants are known to help slow degenerative diseases by helping to stop free radicals. Free radicals hurt the body by initiating chain reactions of electron scavenging that damage the body's cells. Polyphenols and flavinoids rank high in levels of antioxidant activity. Green tea is 30-40% polyphenols by weight. Many of tea's positive immune system effects are related to the high levels of polyphenols it contains.
It is estimated that the necessary daily intake of polyphenols is from 300-400 mg. This translates to about 4 cups of green tea each day. Green and white teas have the highest concentration of all types of polyphenols because they are minimally processed. Vitamin C, another well-known antioxidant, is also present in tea.

HELP PREVENT CANCER
The National Cancer Center Research Institute in Tokyo suggests that "Drinking tea may be one of the most practical methods of cancer prevention available at present".
Green tea has been shown to lower the occurrence of all types of cancers, with more significant decreases in digestive and urinary tract cancers. In animal studies, green tea applied topically was repeatedly shown to protect the skin against cancerous changes and slow the progression of skin cancer. Research has shown tea to be helpful in inhibiting esophageal, stomach, colon, rectal, liver, pancreatic, bladder, breast, and lung cancers. Tea has also been shown to benefit white blood cells during chemotherapy treatment. 
*Mitscher, L. A. & Dolby, V. (1998). The Green Tea Book. Garden City Park, NY: Avery Publishing Group.

HELP YOUR HEART
For some individuals, simply limiting their intake of cholesterol does not always significantly lower their blood cholesterol level. Green tea has been shown to help decrease cholesterol. Pu-erh tea has been shown to help enhance fat metabolism. Both green and Pu-erh teas seem to bond to the cholesterol, retarding absorption as it goes through the digestive tract. This means the body does not absorb the fat even though it was eaten. Although there are not as many studies specifically on Pu-erh tea, the one's that have been done have shown marked reductions in cholesterol. Pu-erh tea seems to outperform green tea in this category, and as more testing is done we will discover why these aged teas have such wonderful benefits.
Green tea also acts as a blood thinner and helps prevent unhealthy clotting. It has also been shown to be relaxing to the blood vessels. This translates to a decrease in fatal heart disease and stroke.

  LOOK MA, NO CAVITIES
Tea contains fluoride and other minerals. It is a good cavity fighter and helps maintain hard teeth. In addition, the polyphenols of tea exhibit anti-plaque properties that can help fight bacteria in the mouth. Children can drink one cup of green tea a day to aid in reducing cavities. Rinsing with green tea after meals is cleansing and refreshing.

History of the green tea benefits in medicinal use

The use of green tea is not recent; instead it has been used by the people since ancient times. The green tea was originated from the lands of China round 3000 years ago and since then it has been consumed by the people very much. Since the ancient times it has been considered to have very good medicinal and health benefits values. The green tea is supposed to be obtained from a plant known by the name of Camellia sinesis. It is the leaves of this plant from where the green tea is obtained. The green tea has the ability to cure many health related problems and is hence considered very well for the human body.
Besides this it is also considered to be a very good anti depressant which is commonly used by the people especially of this era. In the ancient times many people who used to meditate on a regular basis daily made it a habit to have a cup of green tea before meditation. This is because it was supposed that the green tea gives excellent mental awareness to the mind of the person who is about to meditate. Hence the ancient people believed quite strongly in this fact of drinking the green tea before their course of meditation. The medicinal uses and health benefits are very good. The green tea is very well known to the people to kill the cancerous cells in a person’s body. These cells are otherwise very dangerous to the human body. But the regular consumption of the green tea helps in fighting against such cancerous cells hence benefiting the person to a large extent.
The most famous green tea benefit , weight loss is another medicinal use of the green tea as it is known to help reduce weight in a natural way without using any medicines. Hence such are the medicinal uses of the green tea which we have seen in use since the pre historic times. The medicinal benefits of the green tea have made it so popular that its use has increased to a great extent in today’s era. Even though it was used widely in the ancient times also but with the passage of time people all over the world have started becoming more aware due to the green tea benefits that it provides to the human body. Hence we can see from all the above the medicinal uses of the green tea.