Miracle drink or funny tasting water? With the newest health fad sweeping the nation, what is really up with green tea?

Green tea is considered healthy for many reasons. The first is because it is rich in catechins, also called antioxidants. Green tea is not processed very much, which allows the tea leaves themselves to retain more of the catechins to help the body. Theanine is also present in the leaves, which helps to elicit a calming feeling when and after drinking it.

Though there is no such thing as a miracle drink that melts off fat, green tea has shown to increase metabolic rate as well as energy expenditure and fat oxidation. Consistently drinking green tea has shown to increase blood flow, help prevent heart-related issues including congestive heart failure and to have greater activity in their working memory.

A study in 2006 published by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) concluded that green tea consumption is associated with reduced mortality rates due to all causes, including cardiovascular disease. In 2011, another study concluded that consuming green tea, either as a beverage or a capsule, was linked to moderately significant deductions in total LDL or "bad cholesterol".

Green tea has been proven to have numerous beneficial effects on the brain. Drinking green tea or even black coffee have been associated with a reduced risk of strokes, and as mentioned earlier, green tea helps to increase our working memory by enhancing our brain's cognitive functions. There is also research being conducted currently about the effects of green tea on dementia and Alzheimer's disease. A study published by the University of Central Missouri in 2015 showed that a component of green tea, CAGTE, hindered the progress of Alzheimer's in mice, and therefore may hold a lot of promise for the brains of humans.

Because green tea helps with the regeneration of cells all over the body, scientists are looking at hopefully applying it to help human inflammatory diseases. These would include psoriasis and dandruff. When applied to areas of dry, red, flaky skin in animal models, the regeneration of the cells were slowed and the gene that regulates life cycles was discovered.

With all the astonishing affects of green tea, it should come as no surprise that there is currently work being done to link green tea with helping to eradicate cancer. The results of these studies have been mixed. In countries where green consumption is higher, there tends to be lower rates of cancer, but there is no way to tell if it is green tea that is preventing the cancer. In a large scale study, tea drinkers were less likely to develop pancreatic cancer. There have also been promising, but inconclusive research being done on breast, bladder, ovarian, colorectal, esophageal, lung, prostate, skin and stomach cancer.

Though green tea won't magically melt the fat off after one cup, drinking it daily comes with many beneficial qualities. Research being done with green tea is highly promising and would be a good thing to watch for as more becomes known about it's properties.