What is Matcha Tea?
Matcha tea is becoming more and more popular and many cafes now have it on their menu in the form of a latte. It can even be used to make desserts, which seems to be more common in Asian cultures. Matcha is a type of green tea, which gets covered for around a month before the harvest so that it matures in the dark. The increased chlorophyll that is produced as a result gives Matcha its distinct flavour profile and darker colour. Once harvested, the leaves, minus the stalks and veins, are ground into a powder. ¹ This powder is then used to make the beverages we consume. Not only is it a delicious beverage, drinking Matcha tea can also be good for your health!
5 Benefits of Matcha Tea
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Matcha Tea may help weight loss
In a study involving 13 women, Willems and Sahin found that drinking Matcha tea could help increase the rate of fat burning while doing a brisk walk. ² So if you’re exercising for weight loss, try boosting the effects by drinking some Matcha tea before going for that walk or run.
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Increased Attention and Memory recall
There are several studies which show that Matcha tea can be helpful in increasing attention span and memory recall. These effects predominantly come from the constituents in the Matcha tea (caffeine, L-theanine and epigallocatchin gallate), which seem to be at higher levels in Matcha tea than in regular green tea. ³,⁴
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High Levels of Antioxidants
Green Tea is known to have valuable antioxidant properties and Matcha tea seems to have even more antioxidant compounds than other green teas. A study done by Weiss and Anderton showed that the amount of the antioxidant compound epigallochatechin gallate in Matcha was 137 times that found in regular green tea. ⁵
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Support for healthy eyes
We discussed earlier that Matcha contains higher concentrations of catechins than regular green tea. Some studies now show that these catechins can get absorbed into eye tissues and may be beneficial in supporting and maintaining eye health.⁶
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Helps protect the Liver
The constituents in green tea may have a protective effect of the liver. A review of several studies found that people who drank green tea had a lower risk of liver problems. ⁷ Another study with 80 people found that green tea supplementation helped to reduce liver enzyme levels. ⁸
So while the act of having a cup of tea can be relaxing and beneficial in itself, there a additional health benefits when drinking Matcha Tea. So go ahead, have another cup.
References:
1. Link, R. 2017, “7 Evidence-Based benefits of Matcha Tea”, www.healthline.com/nutrition/7-benefits-of-matcha-tea.
2. Willems, M., Sahin, M., Cook, MD, 2001, International Journal of Sports Nutrition and Exercise, pp 1-21.
3. Dietz, C.; Decker, M., Piqueras-Fiszman, B. 2017, Food Research International, pp 72-83.
4. (Diet, C., Decker, M., 2017 Current Pharmaceutical Design, pp 2876-2905.
5. Weiss, DJ. & Alderton, CR 2003, American Journal of Chromatography, pp 173 – 180 (Abstract)
6. Chu, KO, Chan KP, Wang, CC, Chu, CY, Li, WY, Choy, KW, Rogers, MS., Pang, CP., 2010,
“Green Tea catechins and their oxidative protection in rat eye”, Journal of Agricultural Food Chemistry, pp 1523 – 1534.
Xueru, Y., Jiqiao, Y. Tony, L., Liyan, S. Tinglu, H., Mei, Y., Huihua, L., Jianjun, H., Xiaozhu, Z., 2015, ‘The effect of green tea intake on risk of liver disease: a meta analysis”, International Journal of Clinical Experimental Medicine, pp. 8339 – 8346.
8. Pezeshki, A., Sara, S., Awat, F. Gholamreza, A., Fatemeh, K., 2016, “The effect of Green Tea extract supplementation of Liver Enzymes in Patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease”, International Journal of Preventative Medicine, pp. 7 - 28
