Myths and Facts about Green Tea and Caffeine

Green tea is considered a modern panacea that enhances our body’s health and is useful in weight control management but is it true what people say about it? Opposite to other herbal remedies and natural dietary supplements, green tea has enjoyed a large amount of advertising space and airtime that sometimes make us doubt of green tea caffeine and other related topics regarding its beneficial properties.

One real fact is that all the known types of tea contain caffeine but depending on the plant from which leaves are taken and the oxidation process, the amount of this substance can vary considerably and sometime it can be similar or above the amount of caffeine found in coffee. In green tea, caffeine is minimal if compared with other teas.

It is a myth that green tea is caffeine-free, but the amount of this substance can be so reduced that it will not produce the effects of a cup of coffee. In fact, a cup of green tea has at least one-third less caffeine than the same cup of coffee. Some companies claim to harvest green tea following certain procedure and limiting oxidation to reduce as much as possible this substance.

With green tea, caffeine should not be a problem because the plant from which it is produced (Camellia sinensis) has two powerful polyphenolic antioxidants: catechins and epigallocatechins (EGCG). These compounds have anti-carcinogenic properties and can prevent or stop the progression of numerous diseases, at the time that reduce the oxidation of the tea leaves limiting the production of caffeine.

It is not true that drinking a cup of green tea every day will resolve your overweight problems, although it will increase your body’s immune system overtime. In traditional Chinese medicine, it is recommended drink ten cups of green tea a day to reduce your weight and boost your metabolism. The green tea caffeine consumption will obviously increase, but always will be below the amount that ten cups of coffee would bring to your organism.

Nonetheless, most health care providers recommend between two and five cups of green tea a day, or its equivalent when it comes to green tea capsules or pills. Some people consider more beneficial those capsules over the infusion because they may contain concentrated doses of epigallocatechins, but basically pills are produced as a good alternative if you dislike the taste of green tea or you have not time to prepare it as infusion throughout the day.

What if you exceed the green tea dose per day? As of today, the green tea caffeine has not cause insomnia to anyone and there is no evidence that someone has experienced increased heart rate, fast pulse or any other symptom that sometimes occur after a person sensitive to caffeine drinks too much coffee.

For the past few decades, researchers have not found evidence that green tea could produce side effects, and there are not reports of people dead after drinking too much green tea caffeine.