Which One Is Better For You: Green Tea or Green Tea Extract?

Humans are evolving every day, and with us, changing our food habits. Many of us are aware of the power of food and are opting for healthier food options and discarding the fat. And green tea is among those healthy food options.

Green tea not only helps in weight loss but comes with numerous health benefits. Green tea boosts the immune system and builds a strong defense against chronic health issues like diabetes, heart ailments, etc. It contains antioxidants that boost gut health by fighting off microorganisms.

How Does Green Tea Extract Differ From Green Tea?

Most of us know about these health benefits of green tea, what we are not aware of is that there is another form of green tea- green tea extract. Green tea extract is its concentrated form, supplements extracted from the camellia Sinensis plant (green tea plant).

One capsule contains the same amount of active ingredients- antioxidants, polyphenols, vitamins, and flavonoids, as an average cup of green tea. Yes, we are glad you like this idea, but you should learn some facts before deciding what works best for you.

A study done by researcher Susanne M. Henning with the Center for Human Nutrition at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, was published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

It says that green tea supplements produced the highest levels of antioxidants in the blood compared with the consumption of green tea. Another research study shows that green tea polyphenols were absorbed more readily when they came in purified capsule form compared to green tea drinks.

Despite different studies showing how better green tea extracts are, one should remember that a supplement will always remain a supplement. Nutritionists suggest consuming protein-rich foods rather than popping a protein supplement pill, the same is the case with green tea.

Not only this, there are risks of adulteration. There is no uniform nomenclature and the unavailability of details of the process of the products makes people doubt whether they are getting the right products of green extract or not. One can never be sure how the pill is manufactured as the process varied per the manufacturers.

Labdoor’s Green Tea Rankings also showed that supplements are not made equal. Its recent analysis of 25 green supplement labels showed a 42.6% presence of caffeine but when measured the caffeine content was 131.5% more than the label stated.

This inaccuracy of supplement labels raises a major disadvantage when choosing the supplement route. And no study has reported any evidence of toxicity from drinking green tea, even when consuming two or four cups a day.

Final Words

You have reached the end of the page and if you are still confused about what option you should opt for, then you should go with the advice of nutritionists. Almost every nutritionist suggests that anything ingested in its purest form is more beneficial to the body in the long run.

You should select a warm cup of green tea over the pills, especially on winter days as it will make you warm too. Despite all the benefits, one should remember that green tea extract can be toxic when taken in excess.

However, if you are one of the tea lovers who just can not give up the creaminess of milk and the sweetness of sugar, or if you have tried green tea but can not build a taste for this bitter-taste alternative, then you can give pills a try with proper precautions. High doses of green extract pills are not recommended by any nutritionists or doctors.