We know green tea, besides being delicious and relaxing, has many health benefits. But green tea may also be good for your skin:
Tea is made by steeping processed leaves, buds or twigs. Green tea is just one type of tea along with black, oolong and white tea. These teas vary in color, flavor, fermentation and processing. Yet, all four types come from the same plant — Camilla Sinensis. Regardless of processing methods, all teas contain valuable ingredients. Green tea is the most studied of the teas and boasts many benefits.
Antioxidants and free radicals
Free radicals cause skin damage, resulting in signs of aging, like fine lines, wrinkles, discoloration and elasticity loss. Fortunately, antioxidants counter this free radical damage. Green tea contains large amounts of antioxidant polyphenols and catechins. To help boost catechins’ absorption by the intestines, Yahoo! Health suggests adding citrus juices, like lemon, lime or grapefruit, to your tea.You can take advantage of green tea’s antioxidant and anti-aging benefits topically, too. Many skincare products feature this ingredient.
Antioxidants and the sun
The antioxidants in green tea have important implications for sun exposure, too. Studies suggest that green tea helps make sunscreen even more effective. Applying green tea to skin may also reduce sunburn, inflammation and sun damage.Plus, it may help stave off skin cancer, thanks to green tea’s antioxidant and anti-inflammatory characteristics. According to mice studies, conducted by Santosh Katiyar, Ph.D., professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, green tea may be able to prevent skin cancer cells from developing and even destroy some cancerous cells. To get these benefits, you can drink five to six cups a day, Dr. Katiyar tells Rosemary Pennington on 90.3 FM WBHM, a Birmingham radio station. While this may not be feasible, he also says that applying green tea’s polyphenols is just as effective as drinking the tea.
However, green tea by itself doesn’t provide sufficient sun protection and doesn’t block UV rays. So you still need to use sunscreen daily!
The antioxidants in green tea may aid skin’s elasticity, which helps skin retain a smooth texture, free of wrinkles and sagging. According to a 2005 study, “Researchers found that the women taking green tea supplements showed improvement in their skin’s elastic content,” writes Allison Tannis in Feed Your Skin, Starve Your Wrinkles: Eat Your Way to Firmer, More Beautiful Skin with the 100 Best Anti-Aging Foods. And because green tea has the amino acid L-theanine, it also reduces cortisol, a hormone that can destroy the collagen that keeps skin firm, according to Yahoo! Food.
Related posts:
