Judging by coffee sales and Starbucks outlets in the LA area, Angelenos are not big tea drinkers, and even less are green tea drinkers. According to a new study, drinking green tea lowers low-density lipoprotein (LDL; “bad cholesterol”). Xin-Xin Zheng and colleagues from Peking Union Medical College in Beijing. Tea—and green tea—consumption is much higher in China than it is in the U.S. Xin-Xin Zheng noted that the LDL-lowering property may help explain why green tea has been linked to a lower risk of heart disease. He added that because few people in the U.S. drink green tea, encouraging Americans to increase its consumption could have significant health benefits. The study pooled the results of 14 previous trials. In each of those studies, researchers randomly divided participants into two groups: one that drank green tea or took an extract for periods ranging from three weeks to three months, and one that received an inactive preparation. On the average, those who ingested green tea ended up with total cholesterol levels that were 7.2 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL) lower than in the comparison group. Their LDLdropped 2.2 mg/dL. There was no difference in HDL, or "good," cholesterol between the two groups. According to the researchers, the cholesterol-lowering effects of green tea may be due to chemicals known as catechins, which decrease the absorption of cholesterol in the intestinal tract.
The cholesterol reduction with green tea is pretty small, cautioned Dr. Nathan Wong, who heads the heart disease prevention program at the University of California, Irvine. He told Reuters Health the drink "should not be recommended in place of well-proven cholesterol-lowering medicines for people with high cholesterol." Furthermore, some researchers have raised concerns over possible side effects from heavy consumption of green tea or green tea extracts. For instance, there have been a few dozen reports of liver damage, and green tea may also interact with certain medications to reduce their effectiveness. Despite that possibility, Dr. Wong noted that smaller doses of the brew "could be a useful component of a heart-healthy diet," with benefits that may go beyond its effect on cholesterol.
The take-home message is that moderate ingestion of green tea is not harmful and is likely to have health-promoting benefits.
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