Category: Green Tea

Add a green tea extract to your new year health kick for additional benefits!

If you’ve made a commitment to kick off the brand-new decade with focus on a healthy diet and more exercise, this blog will certainly be of interest! You’ve probably heard of green tea and know that it’s good for you, but do you know why? Altruvita’s expert nutritional team takes a look at how adding a green tea extract to your routine can deliver a range of additional benefits and what they are. 

What is green tea? 

Green tea is made from unoxidized tea leaves from the Camilla Sinesis bush (whereas black teas are made from totally oxidized tea leaves from various plants) and it has been enjoyed as a drink for centuries. Green tea is widely believed to have a variety of health benefits, so where do they come from? Polyphenol antioxidants called catechins comprise the majority of green tea’s antioxidant content. Among the catechins in green tea, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) is the most researched and thought to provide the most health benefits. All of these things are found in more concentrated doses within green tea extracts, rather than diluting these key ingredients within green tea beverages.

How do green tea and green tea extracts support our health? 

Green tea helps to maintain women’s and men’s health* and it helps to reinforce the antioxidant defences of the body, including skin and eyes.* It also maintains healthy gut flora*, which means it feeds the bacteria in our gut, which in turn keeps our immune system functioning.  All of these things are important at this time of year when you’re trying to look and feel better at the same time as fighting off colds and flu.

Recent green tea supplement research

If you are one of the many thousands who are kick starting their year with a regular exercise routine, with a plan to lose weight, you may be interested in some research which was published in September of last year. 

Considering the relationship between cardiovascular diseases (heart disease, stroke) and obesity, the study investigated the effects of a green tea supplement and high-intensity interval training on blood cholesterol, triglycerides, maximal oxygen consumption (VO2max) and other risk factors in overweight women.

Thirty overweight women (aged 20-30), were chosen and randomly divided into three equal groups (green tea alone, or exercise + green tea, or exercise + placebo). They worked-out for 10 weeks doing 40m shuttle runs at maximum effort. Women took 500 mg per day of green tea extract or placebo tablets. 

After 10 weeks, triglycerides, LDL (bad cholesterol), weight, and body fat percentage decreased in all groups. HDL (good cholesterol) and VO2max significantly increased in the exercise + green tea and exercise + placebo groups; whilst in the green tea group they did not, which would be expected without exercise.

It suggests that to get the full health benefits, a green tea extract combined with high intensity interval training exercise is probably the best way to go. Green tea and exercise both have their own unique way of improving different measurements and so collectively provide the best option.

Our carefully sourced green tea extract is low in caffeine and is composed of 98% green tea polyphenols.

* EFSA ARTICLE 13.1 BOTANICALS ON-HOLD LIST

Photo by Verena Böttcher on Unsplash

Alternative treatments for Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) remains a common and difficult to manage gastrointestinal condition. There is growing interest in the use of traditional medicine to manage IBS, as prescribed drugs often fail after time and revolve around symptom management of cramps and diarrhoea rather than addressing the cause of the problem. In particular, curcumin, a biologically active phytochemical, has demonstrated anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties in several studies. 

Last year a group of researchers looked at all the studies available with IBS and curcumin. 3 studies were included in the final analysis this included treatment of 326 patients.

They found curcumin to have a beneficial effect on IBS symptoms. With its unique antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities, and ability to modulate gut microbiota, curcumin is a potentially useful agent for IBS. It also appears safe and well-tolerated, with no adverse events reported in the available trials. 

There are more studies on the way looking at even more benefits that it may have in the gut and elsewhere in the body, so watch this space!

Altruvita’s Happy Tum supplement contains highly absorbable curcumin, green tea and vitamin D. Take a closer look at Happy Tum here.

Vitamin D and IBS

Over the past few years there has been a renewed interest in vitamin D as it has been found to be strongly associated with many diseases. For example intestinal inflammation, ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease and some cancers cancer have strong associations with vitamin D deficiency.

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a functional disorder of the gastrointestinal system affecting a large number of people worldwide. Although it doesn’t directly kill people, flatulence, bloating, distention, pain, diarrhoea and constipation have a substantial impact on patients’ quality of life. Appointments for IBS symptoms also put a large financial burden on healthcare services and patients are often forced to trialling unsafe dietary restrictions alone without professional support.

Although the role of vitamin D deficiency in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) has not yet been established one new study tried to establish the role of vitamin D deficiency in IBS patients compared to a healthy control group.

Sixty patients with IBS and 100 healthy individuals were included as test and control groups, respectively, in the study. The average blood level (nmol/L) of IBS patients was compared to the control group levels.

Although vitamin D is common in various parts of the world, there was a statistically significant difference in the mean vitamin D level between healthy and IBS patients. Vitamin D deficiency was detected in 49 patients (82%) in the IBS group and 31 patients (31%) in the control group.

These results suggest that vitamin D should be tested in IBS patients and vitamin D supplementation could play a therapeutic role in the control of IBS.

Reference

Khayyat Y, Attar S. Vitamin D Deficiency in Patients with Irritable Bowel Syndrome: Does it Exist? Oman Medical Journal. 2015;30(2):115-118. doi:10.5001/omj.2015.25.

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

Digest This!

What we eat affects all our organs, but it’s the gut that has to deal most directly with our dietary choices. A poor diet, high in processed foods, can cause constipation and inflammation, and could lead to more serious conditions.

How do we look after our gut? The traditional Mediterranean diet (without the processed meats) is one answer: high in fruit, vegetables and omega-3 oils, but low in saturated fat, sugar and processed food.

We can also show our gut some love by eating individual nutrients that support gut health.

Curcumin is a compound from the spice turmeric and can reduce inflammation and support digestive comfort. Turmeric isn’t only good in curries – it’s also great sprinkled on eggs and green vegetables, and stirred into milk as a night time drink.

Green Tea contains antioxidant compounds and is a good choice to replace our regular tea or coffee. It may also help maintain healthy gut flora.

Eat a rainbow diet, full of different coloured vegetables, fruit, wholegrains and pulses. Fibre helps the bowel to contract and each colour provides us with different nutrients.

Pre- and pro-biotics: prebiotic foods like onions, Jerusalem artichokes, garlic, asparagus and chicory are favourites of the bacteria that live in our guts. And the live bacteria found in probiotic yogurts, drinks and supplements are super-friendly to our digestive systems.

Get more calcium from foods like green vegetables, dairy products and some fish. It’s good for our bowels and strengthens our bones at the same time.

Part of our immune system is in the gut, as gut bacteria. Vitamin D deficiency is linked to immune health. We need more Vitamin D than we usually get from sunlight and we can boost our intake through oily fish, egg yolks and fortified dairy products.

And of course…

Don’t forget to exercise.

Physical activity is great because it gets the bowel moving. We might not want to think about it too much, but the longer waste sits in our bowels, the more likely we are to develop problems.

Photo by Taylor Kiser on Unsplash