Enjoy green tea time today
By Maj. Karen E. FauberDeCA dietitian
FORT LEE, Va. – – Want a boost for your health? Try a cup of hot or cold green tea brimming with antioxidants instead of the usual soda or coffee. Available in bags, loose leaves, bottles, and cans, green tea contains the antioxidants known as catechins which are beneficial for good health. Drinking green tea may help reduce the risk for coronary heart disease, as well as stomach, throat and skin cancers.
An extensive Japanese research study recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that people who drank five or more cups of green tea daily had a lower risk of death from disease than those averaging less than one cup a day. Don’t lose heart over the amount consumed during the study. You don’t have to drink a gallon of tea each day because the size of a cup of tea in Japan is 3.3 ounces compared to the 6- to 8-ounce cup in the United States. And, researchers did observe benefits from drinking as little as one to two cups of green tea a day. In addition to green tea’s health improvements, you also can save 30 percent or more if you purchase it at your commissary.
Trying to lose weight
Growing evidence shows that drinking unsweetened, fresh-brewed green tea, on ice or hot, may be the ultimate weight-loss drink. Research has shown that drinking tea several times a week has contributed to 20 percent less body fat than those who drank none. So if you are trying to lose a few pounds, or want to maintain your weight, drinking green tea may help you do just that. Try adding a few lemon, orange, or lime slices along with some mint leaves to spice it up a little. Anyway you drink it you can enjoy the health benefits of green tea.
See you in the commissary!
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