Why You Should Be Drinking Green Tea Before Taking Supplements

Green tea is one of those superfoods we never hear the end of—in a good way, of course! It seems that each month there is some new discovery on how green tea can benefit us. The awesome effects of green tea include improved heart health, reduced risk of memory loss and Alzheimers, enhanced bone health, weight loss/fat burning, reduced oxidative stress and free radical damage to the brain and body overall, and a lower risk of diabetes and insulin resistance, to name a few.

As you can see, green tea is definitely a tea worth drinking!

According to a new study from Penn State University, drinking green tea can also help to reduce the toxicity of supplements. Basically, it can protect your liver from potential dangers in less-than-sterling quality supplements.

The study examined the effects of green tea extract supplements intended for weight loss. It was discovered that high doses of the green tea supplement had the potential to cause liver hepatotoxicity. The consumption of green tea extract in the last decade has led to higher instances of the toxicity, so it has become a real concern for manufacturers promoting green tea extract supplements.

However, the researchers at Penn State fed the mice low doses of EGCG, the polyphenol that makes green tea extract so potent, for 2 weeks before giving them the concentrated green tea extract supplements. When they started taking the full-dose green tea supplements, the mice that had taken EGCG supplements showed less liver toxicity than the mice that didn’t receive any low-dose supplements before starting on the high-dose EGCG supplements.

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Simply put, the low-dose supplements of green tea extract helped the mice’s bodies to acclimate to the polyphenols in the green tea extract. When they started taking the concentrated doses, their bodies proved less susceptible to suffering toxicity in the liver because of it!

But taking low-dose EGCG supplements isn’t the only way to get your body used to green tea. In fact, why not simply drink the tea itself and skip the dosing altogether?

According to one of the Penn State professors involved in the experiment, “If you are going to take green tea supplements, drinking green tea for several weeks or months ahead of time may reduce your potential side effects. Drinking green tea rather than taking supplements will allow you to realize the benefits and avoid the risk of liver toxicity.”

He said something else that you might find quite interesting: “The beneficial effects that people have reported as being associated with green tea are the result of dietary consumption rather than the use of supplements. The relative risk of using supplements remains unclear.”

Pretty curious, isn’t it? While many of the scientific studies into green tea have used green tea extract, many more of them have discovered the benefits of drinking green tea on a daily basis—no extract or concentrated supplements needed!

If you’re looking for ways to boost your weight loss, up your antioxidant intake, or improve your heart health, you may not need to go the route of supplementation. First, start off by drinking a few cups of green tea per day.

Green tea has a small amount of caffeine, but far less than you’d get from coffee. You can drink 3-5 cups of green tea per day without the negative side effects caused by the same amounts of coffee. Not only will drinking more green tea help your body get accustomed to the EGCG before you take green tea supplements (thereby reducing potential liver toxicity), but it will start the health benefits kicking in long before you take your first supplement or green tea extract pill.

You’ll start to feel more energized thanks to the caffeine in the tea, as well as the antioxidants that will reduce oxidative stress in your body. You’ll improve your cardiovascular function, strengthen your bones, improve insulin sensitivity, and boost immunity. Within just 1 month of adding green tea to your daily diet or meal plans, you’ll notice a significant change in your body and health.

If you make the decision to switch to green tea extract supplements, you won’t have to worry about potential toxicity. Thanks to the green tea you drank beforehand, your body will be accustomed to the potent antioxidant, so there will be less risk of liver damage as a result of the supplement.

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Study Link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278691514005171?via%3Dihub

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