How to drink green tea to increase its properties

Green tea has many beneficial properties. The active ingredients in green tea can even be taken in the form of a capsule extract for therapeutic purposes. But when is the best time to take these capsules? AND when and how is it best to drink green tea so that the active ingredients really work?

Effects of epigallocatechin gallate

The best-known active ingredient in green tea is epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), a plant substance from the group of catechins. Among the effects attributed to it are the following:

Better on an empty stomach and only with water

If you drink green tea or take a capsule of green tea extract, you want to get the maximum benefits of this natural substance.

One study looked at the best way to consume EGCG for maximum benefit. They tried taking EGCG capsules with a light breakfast, with strawberry sherbet, or just plain water. The result showed that the best assimilation occurred when taking it alone with water, that is, outside of any food.

Antioxidant capacity when ingested with water was 2.7 times higher than when ingested with a light breakfast and 3.9 times higher than when taken with the strawberry sorbet. Therefore, meals inhibit EGCG absorption.

Another investigation obtained a similar result. found that absorption was significantly higher when taken with water alone than when taken with breakfast.

Therefore, green tea should be drunk up to a maximum of half an hour before a meal and not earlier than 1.5-2 hours after a meal. The same happens if instead of drinking the tea, capsules with green tea extract are taken.

Do not drink green tea with meals

Meals not only prevent the absorption and effect of the active components of green tea. It can also inhibit the absorption of essential minerals provided by food ingredients.

Green tea can reduce the absorption of iron, for example. EGCG binds to iron molecules so neither one nor the other can function and both are excreted in the feces.

Other studies confirm it (like this one and this one). Therefore, green tea is not a suitable drink with meals for people prone to iron deficiency or even anemia.

EGCG can also inhibit the absorption of copper, chromium and cadmium.

Green tea is prepared with soft water

It is a good idea to prepare your green tea with soft water, that is, poor in calcium, because this can hinder the absorption of EGCG.

To prepare your infusion, choose very weakly mineralized water or filter the supply water.

Why is it better to drink green tea with lemon?

It seems that green tea does not do well at all, but it is not true. You can accompany it with vitamin C and omega-3 fatty acids, because both increase the bioavailability of EGCG.

Therefore, it makes sense to drink green tea with a dash of freshly squeezed lemon juice.

In the afternoon: green tea regulates blood sugar

However, if you want to use green tea specifically to regulate blood sugar, you should, according to a study that appeared in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry, drink it in the afternoon.

In this study, they drank 350 ml of green tea with dinner. It contained a total of 615 mg of catechins (including 135 mg of EGCG) and 85 mg of caffeine. It was a normal green tea, which usually contains between 40 and 100mg of EGCG per 100ml of tea. Lower amounts of EGCG are found in decaffeinated green teas (20-45mg EGCG per 100ml).

But keep in mind that green tea can cause you trouble sleeping. In that case you should switch to decaffeinated green tea In fact, less caffeinated green tea (5.5mg per 150ml) compared to normal caffeinated green tea (18mg per 150ml) it can improve the quality of sleep and improve or reduce the level of some markers of stress.

Warm green tea: to reduce stress at any time

The L-theanine content of green tea is the active ingredient that can reduce stress. In general, it promotes relaxation and at the same time improves brain functions.

If you want to drink green tea at night to promote sleep or reduce stress, prepare the tea with only warm water. Because the hotter the water, the more caffeine is dissolved in the tea. The solubility of EGCG decreases as the water temperature drops, but the solubility of L-theanine remains the same as at high temperature.

Green tea extract can be taken at night

EGCG, the main active ingredient in green tea extract, has a relaxing rather than a stimulating effect. It even seems to counteract the stimulating and circulatory (increased blood pressure and heart rate) properties of caffeine.

Therefore, if you want to take EGCG in the form of green tea extract capsules, you can also do it first thing in the evening, if they are decaffeinated capsules. Green tea extract capsules that contain caffeine are not suitable for overnight consumption. It is best to check directly with the respective manufacturer about the residual caffeine content of their capsules, if not specified.