Green tea has been used as a health remedy for what seems like forever, at least since the first recorded use by the Ancient Chinese civilizations some 4,000 years ago. Originally, the Chinese would infuse their green tea leaves and give them away as health remedies to their people in hopes of curing anything from simple headaches to the gravest of diseases.

Still today, it seems like everywhere we turn there are more advertisements and more studies touting green tea’s miraculous health benefits. For instance, the University of Purdue recently looked into the health benefits of green tea, and proved once again what mankind has known for millenia - green tea is good for you. Really, really….really really good for you. In the study, green tea was found to be an extremely effective combatant of cancer, due largely in part to the EGCG content found in green tea, and most other teas as well. ECGC is a very powerful antioxidant that has been found to be effective in battling cancer time and time again.

The EGCG found in green tea works to prevent attack from free radicals. In a very general sense, free radicals are extremely unstable molecules that look to bond with other molecules. They work to damage healthy cells which, of course, can make a person sick. Thankfully, however, the antioxidants found in green tea along with other teas work to combat free radicals, thus in essence, not only does green tea taste great - it also works to protect our bodily cells.

Along with white tea, green tea has often been recognized as being one of the healthiest drinks on the planet. As opposed to most other varieties of tea, green tea is actually steamed during its processing it requires, and it because of this green tea is able to retain a large amount of its EGCG, while most other teas lose a lot of this valuable chemical during the oxidization process.

According to countless studies, drinking green tea on a regular basis can actually even aid in weight loss! Also, a healthy diet including a regular dose of green tea helps balance cholesterol by elevating HDL (good) cholesterol and lowering LDL (bad) cholesterol.

One final advantage of green tea over the competition is of course the caffeine content. On average, you would have to drink almost 6 cups of green tea to equal the amount of caffeine in just one cup of coffee. One thing is for sure, if you’re looking for a healthier lifestyle, then it’s time to put away the coffee and sodas and bring out the green tea!