Matcha Green Tea health benefits & side effects

Matcha green tea is a type of green tea made of powdered leaves traditionally used in Japan for ceremonial purpose. The main difference between green tea and matcha tea is that green tea is prepared by brewing the leaves in hot water but in matcha tea, the leaves are also consumed.

Matcha tea health benefits

Consuming matcha green tea provides more antioxidants, caffeine other flavonoids than green tea.

1. Prevents Cancer

A case study done in the year 2017 in Japan suggest that matcha green helps in reduction of women bladder cancer.Because of its high in flavonoids drinking matcha tea reduces the incidence of an overall and specific type of cancers(1).

2.Antidiabetic

Matcha tea compared to green tea contains a high amount of EGCG (epigallocatechin-3-gallate) (2). Research shows that the compound EGCG helps in reducing diabetes

3.Prevent Cataract

The polyphenol EGCG present in matcha tea helps in prevention of cataracts by reducing the oxidative stress. A study done on Human lense Epithelial cell (HLE cells) showed that the polyphenols EGCG present in tea acts as an antioxidant and prevents cataracts (3).

4.Protects Kidney

EGCG present in matcha tea helps in preventing calcium oxalate accumulation in the kidney. Research (4) done on the animal model shows prevention of kidney stone on consuming tea rich in EGCG, therefore, helps in maintaining healthy kidney.

5.Prevents obesity

In a research done on mice in 2008 (6), proves that consumption of polyphenol-rich diet EGCG reduces the development of obesity and excess cholesterol. Therefore matcha tea is rich in polyphenol EGCG may help in reducing the fat cells by lowering the absorption and increasing the anti-inflammatory effect of the body.

6.Anti-aging

Drinking matcha tea helps in reducing wrinkles and age-related problems and hence acts as an anti-aging for your body. The antiaging property of matcha tea is because of the antioxidants. The antioxidants help in reducing the oxidative stress of the body and delay the aging process.

7. Reduce stress

Matcha tea because of its high caffeine content helps in relaxing the nervous system and thus reduces the stress.

Matcha Tea side effects

1.Acute liver dysfunction

Matcha tea contains a high amount of polyphenols compared to green tea. Studies on cell line suggested that taking the high amount of polyphenol (EGCG) causes mild dysfunction of liver and it may become more severe when taken by patients with weak liver (5).

2. Frequent urination

Matcha tea contains 23.9 mg/g caffeine this is higher than that of green tea. Excess consumption of matcha tea causes more caffeine accumulation in the body and frequent thus it results in frequent urination leading to decrease in blood sodium and potassium.

3.  Insomnia or sleeplessness

Caffeine acts as a stimulant for a central nervous system. Excess caffeine causes sleeplessness. Thus consuming more caffeine via matcha tea causes irregular sleep pattern which ultimately leads to fatigues and tiredness of body and slows reflex actions.

4. Caffeine during pregnancy

Pregnant women should avoid caffeine as it crosses the placentas and caused abortion. Caffeine also interferes with the breast milk leads to sleep disorders in babies.

5. Anxiety

Due to high caffeine content, excessive intake of matcha tea hinders the normal sleep pattern and also increases the anxiety and dizziness.

References

1. doi:10.3390/beverages3010017
2. doi:10.1016/S0021-9673(03)01133-6
3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2266088/
4. doi:  10.1038/srep30233
5. http://dx.doi.org/10.4172/2161-0495.S1.009
6. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/elink.fcgi?dbfrom=pubmed&retmode=ref&cmd=prlinks&id=18716169