How much green tea should you drink?

Posted on Sat, 15 Dec 12

Drinking green tea has clear health benefits, but how much should you drink each day? Research suggests enjoying just a couple of small cups can have a big impact.

Green tea has many beneficial effects but one of the most important is the ability of phytonutrients in green tea to act as antioxidants and reduce oxidation induced damage to your DNA, as this is related to a wide range of chronic diseases such as cancer and heart disease.

To see if drinking green tea daily would reduce DNA damage a group of healthy men and women, aged 35–50 years, drank either green tea (150 ml, twice daily) or water for 4 weeks. At the end of the study DNA damaged was assessed using a test called the comet assay, which measures changes in oxidation-induced DNA damage and resistance of DNA to oxidant challenge.

After 4 weeks the green tea drinkers had actually lowered their initial level of DNA damage by 30%.  Commenting on the finding the investigators said that these DNA protective “effects of green tea lend support to its use as a functional food and provide scientific evidence for the more confident recommendation of regular intake of green tea for health promotion.”

Reference

Han KC, Wong WC, Benzie IF. Genoprotective effects of green tea (Camellia sinensis) in human subjects: results of a controlled supplementation trial. Br J  Nutr. 2011 Jan;105(2):171-9.