Green tea- A Healthy sip.

ABSTRACT

After water, tea is the most consumed popular drink in the world. Green tea which is a leading beverage in the Far East for thousands of years is regarded as a health product. It is nothing but a non-fermented tea which contains more catechins, than black tea or oolong tea. Catechins are strong antioxidants with its additional content of certain minerals and vitamins increasing its antioxidant potential. High-molecular-weight polyphenols isolated from green tea which includesepigallocatechin 3 gallate (EGCG) constitute the most interesting components in green tea leaves. Th e aqueous extract or the major polyphenols of green tea possess cariostatic, antimutagenic, antidiabetic, antioxidant, antibacterial, anti infl ammatory, antitumor, hypocholesterolemic, as well as cancer-preventive activities in a variety of experimental animal models system and have been demonstrated in various studies.