~*The MYTH and MIRACLE in the cup*~
What's your favourite drink? What health benefits does your drink contain?
Well~ I'm sure that staying pretty or handsome,being youthful and healthy must always be one of our wishes! Possible? Where there's a will, there's a way. To stay young and pretty always, skins should be taken good care to slow down aging processes, choosing good skin care products is certainly important, besides that, i am also keen on checking out the nutritional values in all kinds of foods and beverages to know what their health benefits are and to which parts of the body, specifically. For me, both are equally important, identifying the nutritional requirements of our bodies and consuming the right food in the right proportion is essential to maintain an optimum level of metabolism processes in the internal environment of our bodies so that we'll always have healthy internal organs and PRETTY external looking !
Recently, I found that from foods to beverages, even from skin care to hair care products which are being made and manufactured using GREEN TEA start to appear in the market this few years. Through some research, I realised that it's being a long time that Green Tea has been extensively studied in laboratory experiment on human and animal by the experts such as food scientists, clinical groups and many others for it's amazing health benefits to human body in many aspects which have caused it to be the LIMELIGHT all this while!
Some grandma's story perhaps?
Tea leaves were brew in boiling water and started consuming by people 500000 years ago. There's evidences support that China and India were among the first countries in cultivating tea. Today, tea plants are grown in 30 countries and is being consumed by millions of people all around the world!
There's evidence supports that green tea has been used as medicines since 4000 years ago.
Surprisingly, Green tea is reported as the most popular human-made beverage and most widely consumed beverage in the WORLD besides water!!
Tea leaves are from plants species known as Camellia Sinensis but it is classified into three main varieties which are : GREEN TEA, Oolong tea and Black tea due to the differences in their processing methods. Green tea is made from unfermented leaves, Oolong tea from partially fermented leaves whereas black tea is made from fully fermented leaves. Being the least processed leaves, Green tea is found to contain the highest concentration of POWERFUL ANTIOXIDANTS. There's no others food or drinks can even come close to compete~
For this reason, you know, I'm now head over heels in love with MR. GREEN TEA!
Lets get down to business now
Here, we'll share some facts and figures about What make green tea a Miracle~ 
Green tea contains complex ingredients for about 200 bioactive compounds o_0
However, we'll only focus on the main ingredients. Green tea has been found to contain a large amount of phytochemical constituents known as polyphenols which exists in high abundance in all green teas.and believed to have health-promoting effects. Polyphenols can also be defined as any of various alcohols containing two or more benzene rings that each have at least one hydroxyl group (OH) attached . Flavonoids, a class of plants secondary metablites an example of polyphenols which are anti-allergic, anti-inflammatory and it's most important role, for me, it's an ANTIOXIDANT.
Flavone Backbone :
Molecular structure = 2-phenyl-1,4-benzopyrone
CATECHINS ?
Right, the secrete of green tea for being the KING of tea.
Catechins, also known as flavan-3-ols more specifically, is a simple form of flavonoids. It's pytochemical compounds that exist predominantly in green tea which made up the bulk of green tea antioxidants as well as most healing properties of green tea. Green tea contains about 30% of catechins and might appear in smaller portion in grapes, wine, chocololate and black tea. As the process of manufacturing preclude oxidation, Green Tea is "on the top of the world" for its flavonoids content!
By comparison in research,
Just 1 GRAM of green tea leaves contains 127 milligrams of catechins while the one comes next on the list, dark chocolate only contain 54 milligrams of catechins in 100 GRAMS.
Do you know : A cup of green tea with about 200 milligrams of catechins is equivalent to 8 Apples!
The FOUR main catechins present in green tea are: .EpicatechinEpicatechin-3-gallateEpigallocatechin*Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG)*
Epicatechin
Epigallocatechin
O.0_Now, The STAR of the show...
EGCG, Epigallocatechin gallate, or Epigallocatechin 3-gallate, one of the major components in green tea, is the ester of epigallocatechin and gallic acid. It contains 3 phenol rings with an phenolic hydroxyl group more than that of epicatechin. It is the most abundant catechins in green tea which is about half of the whole amount of catechins in green tea. In addition, EGCG is also the best researched and most active catechines that caught the eyes of scientific world among all the four.
Epigallocatechin 3-gallate
Molecular formula : C22H18O11
What are its SUPER POWER?
Being the most potent antioxidant, EGCG is proven to be 100 times more powerful than vitamin C and 25 times more effective than vitamin E in its antioxidant power, that is to protects cells and DNA for not damaged by free radicals. Free radicals are Unstable molecules 
missing an elctron. They're formed from the by products of metabolic processes, our food, breathing air and mostly, the Ultraviolet radiation from our lovely sun which contribute to 90% of signs of premature aging process. When oxygen intake is being processed into enegy, we're in fact carrying out process called Oxidation which can helps in releasing free radicals. However, as we grow older, the process turns to be less efficient which will eventually contribute to kinds of degenerative diseases and aging processes. Now can you imagine how extremely important it is to have anxioxidants to neutralising the free radical and thus slow down aging processes as well as healing our cell deeply in level.
Furthermore, EGCG found to have cardioprotective effects. It is an important heart health agent to prevent hardening and thickening of artery by arherosclerotic plaque formation due to accumulation of cholesterols, fats and blood clots which can eventually contribute to heart attack and strokes. EGCG can inhibit these as it combats lipid peroxidation in the arterial walls, lowering LDL cholesterols and triglycerides Coronary diseases can be prevented with a clear passage way in the endothelial lining in arteries, this would automatically reduce high blood pressure. Drinnking 4 or 5 cups of green tea daily we would have 26% to 46% lower risk to get heart diseases and 65% safer from developing hidh blood pressure. EGCG has shown to minimize brain cells' damage from stroke and also to speed up recovery of heart cells.
Resveratrol, a polyphenol in red wine that believed to reduce negative effect of consuming fatty diets and smoking, this is the secret for lower incidence of heart diseases in French than in America. Guess what? Researchers found that EGCG is twice potent than resveratrol! Despite about 75% of Japanese are smokers, the rates for heart diseases among them is absolutely low.
Whats more, EGCG is also chemiprotective with its cancer prevention properties that have been widely studied and reported. They found that EGCG can protect us against various kinds of cancers in ways. It can reduces cellular damage which can lead to cancers, supresses growth of tumors by blocking the development of new blood vessels to suply nutrients for cancerous cell as well as inhibiting the overproduction of enzymes that could be catalysts to cancer growth such as cyclooxygenase, COX-2 and dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) and junk-2. EGCG has anti-inflammatory propeties to inhibit growth of skin tumors.EGCG is unique for its ability to combat cancer cells for being a free radical in cancer cells causing them to self destruct in all stages WITHOUT harming surrounding cells like other drugs which can lead to terrible side effects!
Apart from those, being an antimicrobial agent, EGCG is able to inhibits the growth of bacteria such as helicobacter pylori, E. coli, and also viruses in our mouths. Thus, it can help to ward off tooth decay and gum diseases to keep the dentists away and cure bad breath so that friends around us will not suffer :) EGCG can also rejuvenate skin cells by stimulating aged keratinocytes to synthesise DNA for cell renewing.
In addition, EGCG can help in weight loss and KEEP FIT too! It can perform fat oxidation or burning, direct our body to less apsorption of dietary fats, block conversion of energy into fats increase our metabolisms and also keep us from food cravings by regulating our blood sugar levels!Besides all these, green tea has others functions such as protect liver from alcohols, protects lungs from smoking carcinogens, sooth acnes and lighten skins, helps in bone building, immunity boosting, and cell rehydration. Green tea, in fact, shows a really wide range of health benefits from it's combination of all bioactive compounds, which benefit us from head to the bottom, it's just too much and takes too long for everything to be shared after all :p
Now, are you in the picture what make green tea a Miracle?Green Tea, is undoubtedly the natural secret to a healthier life!It benefits
you million times than its side effects.Look, he just cant wait to pour the whole Giant bottle of green tea in to his mouth :)
