AS I WANDER INTO MY LOCAL COFFEE SHOP, I notice someone drinking a bright jade-colored powdered green tea. My adult son Ty also loves matcha in drinkable or edible form. Green tea cake, green tea lattes, green tea ice cream, green tea in a cup, he will devour any of it. But are there health benefits to his minor addiction to green tea?
Many of my patients ask if this antioxidant-heavy food has anti-cancer properties. Others wonder if it will improve their stress levels or memory. Today we explore whether consuming matcha will enhance your health. We’ll look specifically at green tea’s evidence-based mental health benefits.
“The fanciest grade of green tea in Japan goes by gyokuro.” It consists of the newest leaves of a tea plantation’s tea bushes that bud in May and have been carefully protected from the sun under a double canopy of black nylon mesh. The leaves are steeped in boiled water or ground into a powder to make matcha (literally, “grind“tea”), th” thick tea served at a tea ceremony. (The powder used to make the thin tea served at a tea ceremony comes from grinding the older leaves of young tea plants, resulting in a more bitter-tasting tea.)
The middle grade of green tea is called sencha. It is made from unprotected young tea leaves that unfurl in May or June. The leaves are usually steeped in hot water to yield a fragrant grassy brew to enjoy on special occasions or in fancy restaurants.
For everyday tea, the Japanese buy bancha. Often containing tiny tea twigs, it consists of the large, coarse, unprotected leaves that remain on the tea bush until August. When these leaves are roasted, they become a popular tea called hojicha. When hojicha combines with popped roasted brown rice, a tea called genmaicha results.”
― Vi”toria Abbott Riccardi, Untangling My Chopsticks: A Culinary Sojourn in Kyoto
What is matcha?
Have you ever tried powdered green tea, known as matcha? In its traditional form, tea leaves are steeped in hot water and discarded.
With matcha, however, the dried leaves are ground into a powder. This process creates a unique, non-bitter taste and the characteristic green color of the product. Many regard it as the most aromatic form of green tea.
Health Benefits and Chemical Composition of Matcha Green Tea: A Review
Molecules. 2021 Jan; 26(1): 85. Mamoru Isemura, Academic Editor, Yukihiko Hara, Academic Editor, and Mamoru Isemura…
Matcha and memory
Does matcha enhance brain function? We have low-level evidence, in the form of very small studies, that a brain performance boost may be associated with matcha.
For example, a randomized, placebo-controlled study enrolled 23 individuals and examined performance on a series of tasks measuring brain performance.
The study groups included participants who:
- Consumed four grams of matcha in bar or tea form.
- Consumed a placebo bar or tea.
Matcha consumption appeared to be associated with improvements in reaction time, attention, and memory (compared with a placebo).
Let’s look more broadly at green tea. An analysis of 36 studies discovered that consumption is associated with a lower risk of cognitive disorders. The conditions ranged from mild cognitive impairment to problems such as dementia, Parkinson’s disease, and Alzheimer’s. The higher the amount of green tea consumed, the lower the risk of such health issues.
Green tea and longevity
Green tea helps us fight stress, improving brain function and health. Moreover, the consumption of green tea may suppress brain aging.
While brain aging is not always in-synch with body aging, lifespan is a marker of body aging. Green tea lengthens life in nematodes, fruit flies, and mice. But what about humans?
We have limited evidence suggesting improvements in all-cause mortality for humans who consume green tea. One study of 91,000 Japanese, ages 40 to 69, followed them for nearly 19 years. All-cause mortality appeared to be much lower among those who consumed five or more cups of green tea daily compared with those drinking less than one cup.
The Japan Public Health Center-based Prospective Study study showed:
Green tea appeared to be inversely associated with heart disease mortality in both men and women and mortality from cerebrovascular disease (stroke) and lung disease in men. The researchers found no association between green tea and total cancer mortality.
A study of elderly Chinese discovered a similar relationship: Men who consumed tea almost every day had a one-fifth lower risk of early death than their counterparts who seldom consumed tea. No such association appeared for women, however.
But please remember: Association is not causality.
Green tea benefits — Not so fast
Please remember that matcha contains a more concentrated amount of caffeine than green tea, packing in 35 milligrams per half teaspoon (about 1 gram) of matcha powder.
Numerous studies have associated caffeine consumption with brain function improvements, including faster reaction times, better memory, and increased attention.
Matcha also has L-theanine, a compound associated with improved alertness and avoidance of an energy level crash after caffeine begins to wear off.
Matcha 101 — How to use it
Do you want to learn more about matcha? If you are interested in incorporating it into your cooking, I have a nice resource for you:
Matcha 101 – What It Is and How to Use It – Love and Lemons
I love starting my day with a steaming cup of matcha green tea. Read on to learn how to make this energizing…
The information I provided in this blog is for educational purposes only and does not substitute for professional medical advice. Please consult a medical professional or healthcare provider if you seek medical advice, diagnoses, or treatment. I am not liable for risks or issues associated with using or acting upon the information in this blog.
Thank you for joining me in this brief look at the relationship between green tea consumption and health.
