Does Bottled Green Tea Have Health Benefits
Have you ever wondered if bottled green tea has the same health benefits as freshly brewed green tea? Well, sorry to break the news to all of you bottled tea drinkers but in most cases, the answer appears to be no.
In December 2006, the U.S. Department of Agriculture made public its database on the flavonoid content of foods.1 (Flavonoids, a type of polyphenol, are a group of compounds found primarily in fruits and vegetables that act as powerful antioxidants. Green tea’s catechins are a sub-group of the flavonoids.) The USDA list, which includes the levels of catechins found in green tea that was prepared in different ways, is a real eye-opener for those who drink bottled tea for health reasons!
For example, the level of EGCg (green tea’s most potent catechin) in brewed loose-leaf tea was 77.81 mg per 100 grams of infusion. Decaffeinated green tea, however, had just one-third that amount, weighing in at 26.05 mg. But ready-to-drink green tea (the kind that comes in a can or a bottle) contained a minuscule 3.96 mg of EGCg, just 5 percent the amount found in freshly brewed green tea. And instant green tea was even worse, with a practically nonexistent .5mg EGCg!
Similar studies measuring the health-promoting compounds in green tea were done in 2005 by researchers at Oregon State University.2 They found that the polyphenol content and antioxidant activity in some bottled tea products were 10 to 100 times lower than those found in brewed tea!
Why does bottled (or canned) green tea have such low levels of catechins? A major reason is that the catechins are sensitive to heat and oxygen, making them easy to destroy during the processing, transporting and storing of bottled tea. Also, many bottled tea products are made from tea extracts, which have far fewer antioxidants to begin with than brewed tea. Then, to make matters worse, bottled tea products are often loaded with sugar or high fructose corn syrup which, besides being unhealthy and unnecessary, can contribute to catechin breakdown.
If you still want to drink bottled green tea, be sure to look for a high quality product made from brewed tea that contains no added sweeteners and has the polyphenol or catechin content listed on the label. Your best bet is a product that contains at least 75 mg polyphenols or 50 mg EGCg per cup. If you can’t find one, how about just settling for a nice bottle of water?
http://oregonstate.edu/dept/ncs/newsarch/2005/Oct05/teaprotection.htm
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