Green Tea for Pneumonia Protection
Thursday, January 21, 2010 at 8:06AM
Japanese women who drink even a little bit of green tea seem to have a lower risk of developing pneumonia, and those who drink five or more cups per day may be able to cut their risk by 47 percent. These findings are from a study published in the September 2009 American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. The researchers also found that drinking a single cup of green tea daily cut the risk of dying from pneumonia by 41 percent. But these results apply only to Japanese women, not men. Even with the gender differences, the investigators noted that their findings support the hypothesis that compounds in green tea can destroy or inhibit the growth of viruses and other microorganisms that cause pneumonia. This was a big study that followed more than 19,000 men and more than 21,000 women for more than 12 years. The participants' ages ranged from 40 to 79. The researchers saw the benefits in women (but not men) after controlling for age, physical function, smoking status and other health and dietary factors that might influence the risk of pneumonia.
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Reader Comments (2)
This is good news. I drink a hot green tea every day before working. And I think a green tea have much more value such as increase metabolism, dietary, etc.
Hi,
I have a quick question about matcha green tea. I've read that adding lemon juice to green tea increases the levels of catechins preserved after digestion by more than five times, with an 81 to 98 per cent recovery for EGC, 56 to 75 per cent for EGCG, 86 to 95 per cent for EC and 30 to 55 per cent for ECG.
So does one need to add lemon juice to matcha tea in order to maximize its health benefits?
Thank you-