It has been well documented, the health effects of green tea. Green tea has been used for hundreds of years and we are only recently discovering the reasons behind the health benefits associated with this magic drink. expired domain list . Recent studies have unveiled one such healthy component of green tea being a compound called – ECGC, which is a type of flavonoid that is not contained in other teas that could be used to stave off that after-luch carb-crash.
A recent study performed at Penn State University looked into the effects of green tea (containing ECGC) and the blood glucose level of mice after a starchy meal. As you may know, blood glucose, and insulin levels rise after a meal, and this is particularly true of a meal high in carbohydrates. Without getting too scientific, this is a bad thing, and can contribute to the “food coma” or “carb crash” that you experience after a big lunch. Not to mention a myriad of health effects in the long term such as weight gain, diabetes and others.
The study showed that when the mice were given a dose of ECGC immediately before, during or immediately after the meal, their blood sugar and insulin levels didn’t rise to as higher levels as mice without the ECGC dose. The mice were given a dose approximately equivalent to one cup of green tea in humans.
So what can we take from this study? Aside from re-enforcing the idea that you should try and avoid starchy meals for your general health, if you are going to indulge yourself with a carbohydrate rich lunch (such as anything containing rice, wheat, potatoes etc), and want to mitigate the effects it may have on your afternoon at work, you can do this by consuming a cup of green tea with lunch. Give it a shot!
Further Reading:
http://live.psu.edu/story/62624.
