How Can Green Tea Help Those With Rheumatoid Arthritis?

Green tea, highly promoted by natural health practitioners for it many health benefits has been valued and used in Chinese medicine for over 4,000 years! Black tea and oolong tea also originate from the same plant as green tea, the Camellia Sinensis plant.

Green tea has the most health benefits because of the way the tea leaves are processed. The other types of tea use fermented leaves, but the green tea leaves are steamed. The polyphenols, which are powerful anitoxidants aren’t compromised, making them effective in preventing and fighting disease.

Those who have rheumatoid arthritis will find it helps with swelling because of its anti-inflammatory properties. It has also been known to inhibit the breakdown of cartilage in the joints. Anything that will help reduce the swelling and allow people to reduce their use of NSAIDs should be counted as a plus.

It also contains antioxidants A and C. Green tea’s antioxidant activity has been shown to be anywhere from 25 to 100 times more powerful than vitamins C and E.

Natural medicine advocatesalso recommend green tea for treating cancers (breast,stomach, skin, esophageal and others). It is also used to help lose weight, improve mental alertness and to protect the skin from sun damage. Here is a list of some of the conditions green tea has been know to help with:

” Cancer

” rheumatoid arthritis

” digestive help

” high cholesterol

” heart disease

” infection

” impaired immune function

” tooth decay

There is much to recommend green tea, and little to say against it. Since it does contain caffeine, you may experience some of the symptoms of caffeine. These include insomnia, anxiety, irritability, nausea, diarrhea and other symptoms.

Green tea is available as a beverage, in capsules as an extract and is used in some skin care products.How much green tea should you drink? Studies conducted by universities concluded that drinking four or more cups of green tea per day could help prevent rheumatoid arthritis, or reduce symptoms in those that have it.

This article is for information purposes only and not intended to give medical advice or diagnosis. It is recommended to seek a physicians advice for medical issues and before making and changes in diet, medications or exercise.