6 Reasons Why Green Tea Is Healthier Than Coffee
Green tea has many advantages over coffee. A switch to green tea is therefore worthwhile for many reasons, one of which is the weight loss benefits that the tea-based product Tea Burn promises to offer.
Green tea has been used as a remedy in its Far Eastern homeland for about 5,000 years – tea did not reach Europe until 1610. Although there are far more coffee drinkers than tea connoisseurs in Europe today, green tea is becoming increasingly popular due to its remarkable health effect and special taste experience.
While tea and coffee both contain antioxidants and of course the active ingredient caffeine, which is highly appreciated by many people thanks to its stimulating effects, numerous studies have found that green tea is ahead in terms of medicinal value. We present the six most important advantages of green tea over coffee.
Six reasons for green tea instead of coffee
So if you are considering whether it makes sense to switch from coffee to green tea, then below you will find the appropriate motivating arguments:
1. Green tea with antiviral properties
An October 2018 study (1) showed that the main active ingredient in green tea, EGCG, can work against numerous viruses, including herpes and hepatitis viruses, but also flu viruses.
Especially in the early stages of an infection, the EGCG should be helpful, or of course, can be used for prevention. This is because the EGCG seems to prevent the penetration of viruses into the body’s cells by inactivating certain proteins in the membrane of the viruses.
2. Green tea helps reduce your caffeine consumption
Caffeine has a stimulating effect on the central nervous system and is considered the main reason for consuming tea and coffee. Many people do not tolerate coffee so well because of the caffeine. They become nervous, unfocused, and sleepless or suffer from palpitations or tachycardia because caffeine accelerates the heartbeat, among other things.
If you react to coffee in this way, you could get along better with green tea. Although this also contains caffeine, in the dry matter even more than in the coffee bean, ultimately there is much less caffeine in the infusion than in coffee, and a better tolerated one.
3. Green tea is more tolerable than coffee
However, the power of green tea is by no means just about caffeine. According to the current state of science, green tea contains 200 to 250 important secondary plant substances and 360 to 400 essential oils.
In addition to caffeine, the valuable active substances in green tea include polyphenols (catechins, flavanols), fatty acids, polysaccharides, proteins, trace elements, vitamins, amino acids, essential oils, chlorophyll, and numerous secondary plant substances.
Although the amounts of vitamins, fatty acids, or trace elements contained in the infusion are very small and usually not relevant. However, according to studies, it does not only depend on the individual ingredients and their quantity but also the interaction and combined effect of the same.
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4. Green tea protects the teeth
Another reason to drink green tea instead of coffee is dental health. Unlike black tea and coffee, the regular consumption of green tea hardly discolors the teeth.
The catechins in green tea, especially the epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), contribute to caries prevention (e.g. in oral cancer) by inhibiting certain enzymes of caries-causing bacteria. ( 4 )
Green tea can be considered a natural source of fluoride, but only if it is a high-quality organic green tea because other green teas can also contain far too much fluoride.
5. Green tea helps you lose weight
Green tea is also considered a slimming agent. In this regard, more than 40 studies were carried out between 2000 and 2013 alone. In more than three-quarters of the studies, a positive influence of the active ingredients on body weight could be determined. ( 3 )
Here, the combination of caffeine/catechins in green tea is sometimes referred to, which has a reducing effect on fat digestion and fat absorption in the stomach and intestines.
6. Green tea strengthens the heart
Some studies show that too much coffee can harm the heart. Green tea is different: In 2013, cardiologists at Heidelberg University Hospital published their study results on the therapeutic effect of green tea in the journal Clinical Research in Cardiology.
The researchers found in the study that the daily consumption of two liters of green tea in hereditary and age-related forms of the incurable disease amyloidosis, in which heart failure occurs due to malformed proteins, further heart damage can be prevented.
Conclusion
Green tea, therefore, has enormous health benefits, so a switch from coffee to green tea is worthwhile for several reasons.
However, if you have an iron deficiency and/or are taking iron supplements, then you should be careful with both green tea and coffee, as both drinks can inhibit iron absorption.