Green tea is considered a healthy drink. This is based on a large body of evidence that shows that regular consumption of green tea may have a number of beneficial health effects. In particular, green tea has been shown to protect from cardiovascular disease, obesity, type 2 diabetes, cancer and neurodegeneration. These health effects likely relate to the polyphenol antioxidants in green tea. However, there is another reason that drinking green tea may provide health effects. This is based on the simple logic that drinking more tea is concomitant to drinking less of other beverages. If these other beverages are soft drinks, fruit drinks or drinks containing added sugar, there is a benefit from the avoidance of these products. Many people therefore inadvertently benefit from drinking green tea, simply because they cease to consume drinks with detrimental health effects. The damage caused by regular soft drink and fruit juice consumption for example, should not be underestimated.
Green tea may be beneficial to the health because of the antioxidants it contains. These antioxidants are catechins that belong to the polyphenol group of phytochemicals. Green tea supplements of green tea may possess the same heath effect as drinking green tea if they contain the same catechins. However, drinking green tea generally provides greater quantities of antioxidants than taking supplements.
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