If you have read my other posts, you may know that I love tea. A nice hot, steaming cup is very therapeutic to me.
I came across recent articles from medical research sites that went over the possible use of green tea as a preventative and treatment option for COVID-19. Needless to say, this really excited me!
Health benefits of tea have been touted for a while now
Green tea has been gaining in popularity over the years. This is due to the benefits some researchers say that it has. They are as follows:
- May lower cholesterol
- May lower high blood pressure
- May help with weight loss
- Provides energy without jitters
- May help with skin conditions such as aging and acne
- May have anti-inflammatory effects
- May protect against cavities
- May help regulate blood sugar levels
These alleged benefits are said to be due to the tea’s content of a catechin called, EGCG (epigallocatechin-3-gallate). To get as much EGCG as you can, here are things one can do:
- Drink multiple cups a day- Research says 3-5 cups is best.
- Drink between meal times- This is so you can absorb all of the EGCG instead of having it bind to the food you are eating.
- Pick green tea with the most EGCG in it- Loose leaf teas with the most EGCG are Gyokuro, Matcha and Sencha. Tea brands that sell tea bags with the most EGCG include Celestial Seasonings and Lipton with Stash having the lowest amount.
- Go straight for the EGCG- This catechin is sold by itself as a supplement from a few different brands.
What the articles are saying (extremely simple explanation)
Green tea has been known to have a possibility of treating viruses such as HIV, Influenza and the Rotavirus. There are now a few research articles stating its use in the war against COVID-19, too.
The constituents in green tea (EGCG being one of them) are said to have antiviral effects. When it comes to fighting COVID-19, it possibly does this several ways. These ways include inhibition, interaction and binding activity
But wait, I have had green tea daily for years
I have been drinking multiple cups of green tea per day for years now and I still got COVID-19 in March.
This is probably due to me not drinking the kind of green tea that has a high amount of the constituents discussed in the articles and because the research is not definitive.
Green tea may not actually do anything
Some say green tea has health benefits, some say it has absolutely no benefits.
I do not think it will do miraculous things to our health but I am still going to drink it. If in the off shoot it is actually doing my body some good (maybe it kept me from having to go to the hospital?), then great!
The main thing I really love about seeing these articles is that there are people working immensely hard on trying to figure this new virus out. This gives me so much hope.
Do you like green tea? If so, what brand/kind do you drink?
Thanks for reading!
Some articles-
https://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-27545/this-is-how-much-green-tea-you-should-be-drinking.html
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7367004/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32720577/
#greentea #health #covid19 #covidlonghaulers #supplements #virology
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