Green tea has been the go-to wellness drink for what feels like forever, and it’s not just hype. Here are seven reasons to brew a cup, plus a few honest notes on what it can’t do.
1. It’s Loaded With Antioxidants
Pollution, sunlight, and everyday life create tiny troublemakers called free radicals. When there are more free radicals in your body than what it can handle, damage to your cells and even your DNA happens. This damage has been linked to health conditions like heart disease and cancer. That’s where green tea comes in. Green tea is full of antioxidants, which incredibly act as little bodyguards that step in and prevent the free radicals from doing harm. So drink up sister, these little antioxidants are protecting you and helping to keep your body healthy.
2. It May Be Kind to Your Heart
This is green tea’s most famous perk. Studies suggest that green and black tea might help with some heart disease risk factors, like blood pressure and cholesterol. Over 20 different studies found that green tea was linked to slightly lower blood pressure, plus lower total and “bad” LDL cholesterol. The blood pressure effect was small, and the cholesterol effect was moderate. So keep in mind, it’s a nice helper but not a replacement for a healthy diet, exercise, or your doctor’s advice.
3. It Looks Promising Against Cancer
In lab studies, the antioxidants in green tea have been shown to slow the growth of cancer cells and make it harder for tumors to spread. But what happens in a lab dish doesn’t always happen in a real person’s body… In real people, the results are mixed. A large 2020 review looked at 142 studies and found the effect on cancer risk was inconsistent. Some studies hinted at a lower risk for certain cancers, like colon and mouth cancers. People who drank the most green tea had a somewhat lower overall cancer rate than those who drank the least, but the evidence was low-certainty. It’s also hard to tell what’s doing the work, since big tea drinkers often live healthier lives in other ways too.
4. It Gives You a Gentle Boost
Green tea has caffeine, so it can give you a little pick-me-up, but it generally has less than coffee, which makes it a softer way to feel alert. It’s especially nice in the afternoon, when a strong coffee might be too much. It’s also less acidic, so if coffee is rough on your stomach, green tea may be a gentler way to get caffeinated in the morning. Try to have it with breakfast or a snack rather than on an empty stomach to avoid any upset.
5. It’s Good for Your Smile
Your mouth may benefit too. Research on green tea suggests it may help promote oral health as it naturally contains fluoride. Just skip the sugar and honey if you want to keep your teeth happy.
6. It May Give Your Metabolism a Little Nudge
In the fitness industry, this one is promoted a lot. A cup of plain brewed green tea has only about 2 calories, and the natural compounds in it (antioxidants and caffeine) may nudge your body to burn more than that. So with every cup you drink, you’re actually burning more calories than what the drink contains. Um, yes please!!!! One review showed that people who had green tea antioxidants plus caffeine burned about 4.7% more calories over 24 hours, which works out to roughly 100 extra calories a day. Their bodies also burned more fat, up by about 16%. Um, what? I don’t know about you, but I’m upping my green tea intake.
7. It’s Linked to a Longer Life
People who drink green tea regularly tend to live longer. In a big Japanese study that followed more than 40,000 adults for about 11 years, those who drank five or more cups a day were 16% less likely to die from any cause than those who drank one cup or less. A review that combined 18 studies found that the biggest green tea drinkers had about a 20% lower risk of dying from any cause, and each extra daily cup was linked to about a 4% lower risk. A 2024 review of 38 studies on tea in general also tied a cup or two a day to a lower risk of dying early. Ok gals, fire up the kettle.
Before You Sip
Green tea is a safe choice for most people, but keep these few things in mind:
- Stick with the tea, not the pills. No safety concerns have been reported for green tea as a drink for adults. Rare cases of liver injury have been linked to green tea products, mostly extracts in pill or capsule form.
- Taking medicine? Green tea may interact with some medicines, so check with your health care provider first.
- Pregnant? Caffeine should stay at moderate levels, so ask your provider for advice.
- Low in iron? Unfortunately, green tea may reduce how well your body absorbs iron. So if you struggle with low iron levels you probably don’t want to drink 5 cups a day.
So, Pour Yourself a Cup
Green tea isn’t a miracle cure, and doctors are upfront about that. But as a warm, comforting drink with natural antioxidants and a possible little boost for your heart, it’s an easy habit to love. Brew a cup, sit back, and take a quiet moment. That alone is good for you.
*This article is for general information and is not medical advice. Please talk with your doctor about any health concerns.
Sources:
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health: Drinking green tea is a healthy habit
National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NIH): Green Tea
Merck Manual, Consumer Version: Green Tea
Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases: The effect of green tea on blood pressure and lipid profile: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials
Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews: Green tea (Camellia sinensis) for the prevention of cancer
Obesity Reviews: The effects of catechin rich teas and caffeine on energy expenditure and fat oxidation: a meta-analysis
JAMA: Green tea consumption and mortality due to cardiovascular disease, cancer, and all causes in Japan: the Ohsaki study
British Journal of Nutrition: Tea consumption and mortality of all cancers, CVD and all causes: a meta-analysis of eighteen prospective cohort studies
Epidemiology and Health: Tea consumption and risk of all-cause, cardiovascular disease, and cancer mortality: a meta-analysis of thirty-eight prospective cohort data sets
International Journal of Biomedical Science: Free Radicals, Antioxidants in Disease and Health