There are thousands of years of ceremonial and healing uses behind Chinese green tea. The Japanese version of this famous tea is called Matcha. If you’re not yet familiar with the amazing power of this tea, we’re about to deliver 15 matcha health benefits that will capture your attention.
But before we do, let’s examine matcha a bit more closely.
Matcha List of Nutrients
This amazing green powder is full of nutrients, which make it such a powerful addition to your wellness regimen. Let’s take a closer look at those nutrients. In ½ tsp of matcha, you’ll find the following nutrients:
- Polyphenols 100 mg;
- Protein 306 mg;
- Caffeine 25 mg;
- Dietary Fiber 385 mg;
- Amino Acids 272 mg;
- Vitamin A (carotene) 595 mg;
- Vitamin A (retinol) 100 mg;
- Potassium 27 mg;
- Calcium 4.2 mg;
- Phosphorus 3.5 mg;
- Magnesium 2.3 mg.
Top 15 Matcha Health Benefits With an Amazing Power
1. Detoxification
One of the matcha health benefits that will catch your attention right away is its ability to detoxify and cleanse your system.
What to do:
- Bring 2/3 of a cup of water to just below a boil. If the water reaches a boil, allow it to cool a minute or two before mixing the tea.
- Thoroughly mix in 1 tsp of matcha into the hot water.
- Drink this tea once or twice a day.
How it works:
The high levels of chlorophyll in matcha make it an excellent detoxifier for heavy metals and other toxins.
2. Boost of Cognitive Function
Boosting cognitive function and reducing the symptoms and onset of dementia is connected to drinking matcha.
What to do:
- Prepare matcha using the recipe above.
- Consume 2 to 3 cups per day for a cognitive boost.
- Drink this tea when you feel the afternoon brain fog coming on.
How it works:
The amino acid L-theanine enhances the production of dopamine and serotonin. These contribute to increased cognitive function.
3. Digestive Improvement
You can enjoy the matcha health benefits also by using it as a natural digestive aid.
What to do:
- Drink matcha tea 15 to 20 minutes before each meal.
- You can also drink matcha to relieve indigestion or heartburn.
How it works:
The high fiber of matcha helps keep you regular and clean out your system, which also aids the digestive process. Additionally, its mineral content helps to sooth indigestion.
4. Balance of Blood Sugar
Balancing blood sugar is another excellent addition to our list of matcha health benefits, as this tea is a quick cure to high blood sugar levels.
What to do:
- Try out this matcha green tea latte with coconut milk to get a powerful blood sugar balancing boost from both ingredients.
How it works:
Matcha improves insulin sensitivity and reduces blood sugar levels due to its polyphenols and chlorophyll.
5. Immunity Boost
You should also consider the fact that matcha boosts your immunity by having a direct influence to your blood stream.
What to do:
- You can go beyond drinking matcha tea and start of your morning with the powerful benefits of this amazing powder from this matcha granola and blueberries recipe.
How it works:
The abundance of antioxidants found in matcha eliminates free radicals in the blood stream. This also protects you from all sorts of illnesses and diseases.
6. Possible Prevention of Cancer
Cancer prevention is a prized reason to add to our the list of matcha health benefits. This is a pretty serious reason to consider drinking matcha on a regular basis.
What to do:
- Another great way to add matcha into your daily diet is with a tasty recipe.
How it works:
Matcha is loaded with catechins. More specifically 60% of matcha catechins are the cancer fighting type known as epigallocatechin gallate (EGCg).
7. Cholesterol Decrease
As an aid to lowering your cholesterol is yet another of the many matcha health benefits, due to the catchecins we mentioned above.
What to do:
- How about starting or ending your day by consuming matcha, ganache crepes to help get your cholesterol levels under control?
How it works:
Matcha helps balance out your cholesterol by both lowering LDL cholesterol and raising HDL cholesterol; another function of the EGCg catechins.
8. Blood Pressure Decrease
Believe it or not, the matcha health benefits for your cardiovascular health extend to lowering your blood pressure too.
What to do:
- How about a sweet treat in order to add more matcha into your diet on a daily basis? This coconut matcha fudge makes a great snack.
How it works:
Potassium is abundant in matcha. Potassium aids in lowering your blood pressure.
9. UV Protection
Matcha tea protects your skin from the influence of UV rays by providing your body the vitamins it needs during sun exposure.
What to do:
- Another great matcha snack that you can take with you when you’re engaged in outdoor activities is made from this matcha, dark chocolate, date bar.
How it works:
The combined elements of vitamin C and the catechins in matcha make your skin and skin tissues more resistant to the harmful effects of UV rays.
10. Stress Calm
A hot cup of stress calming tea might earn a high spot in the top of matcha health benefits that you enjoy.
What to do:
- Hot or cold, this matcha latte recipe will take the ragged edge off of a stressful day.
How it works:
As we mentioned earlier, matcha contains abundant amounts of L-theanine. This encourages the production of dopamine and serotonin in your body. These two hormones eliminate stress and produce calm.
11. Liver Health
The matcha health benefits may seem a bit too medical for one cup of tea. But specialists claim that it can provide an improved liver function.
What to do:
- Making your liver function better doesn’t have to come from some foul tasting chemical solution, it can come from this delicious matcha coffee mug cake.
How it works:
Matcha assists in preventing the accumulation of fat and fights against the decline in antioxidant defenses in the liver, which improves liver function.
12. Tooth Decay Prevention
Preventing tooth decay is also among the many matcha health benefits. Think of the moments when you can’t brush your teeth after a meal, but you want to keep them healthy!
What to do:
- Add a little matcha as a side dish to your meals. Here is an matcha, eggplant and rice side dish that can help.
How it works:
Besides being abundant in the minerals which help to strengthen bones and teeth, matcha is much less acidic than coffee and other teas. So it inhibits the growth of oral bacteria which thrive in that environment.
13. Energy Boost
One of the top matcha health benefits is its ability to give you a sustained energy boost. This is because it contains a natural kind of caffeine which your body will absorb.
What to do:
- Replace your typical, sugar-loaded energy drink with this matcha and pear smoothie.
How it works:
Even the caffeine found in matcha isn’t your typical caffeine. The 25 mg of caffeine in matcha is theophylline, which is a slow release caffeine that sustains its energy boost without the typical caffeine crash.
14. Anti-Age
Everyone wants to stay young forever. But you can try to achieve this naturally, due to the ingredients found in matcha.
What to do:
- Next time you decide to sit back, relax and have a nice cool glass of lemonade, consider this matcha cucumber lemonade to refresh and help maintain your youth.
How it works:
The list of anti-aging benefits of matcha is a long one and includes: reduced bone loss, hormone balance, cardiovascular and liver health, and the elimination of free radicals. All of these benefits are thanks to the vitamins, minerals and antioxidants in matcha.
15. Calorie Burn
The final item we will discuss is matcha’s ability to help burn calories.
What to do:
- Discover your favorite way of consuming matcha by experimenting with a number of recipes and use it as a replacement for sodas and other sugary drinks.
- Consuming matcha tea 10 to 15 minutes before each meal will help curb your appetite.
- Additionally, drinking matcha before a workout can increase the number of calories burned.
How it works:
Several studies show that matcha can help curb appetite and reduce cravings. Additionally, matcha helps to burn 17% more calories with regular use and 25% more calories than your regular workout if consumed before exercising.
What Is Matcha?
Where traditional, Chinese or Indian green tea leaves are brewed in hot water, and then thrown away, matcha makes use of the entire leaf. Green tea leaves are ground into a fine powder in order to make matcha and stirred into hot water that is just below boiling. Because the entire leaf is consumed, there are a few additional benefits from matcha that aren’t found in the use of traditional green tea.
Compared to all other teas, matcha contains 10 times the nutrients and packs more punch in a single gram than nearly all other vegetables. It’s not hard to imagine where these 15 matcha health benefits come from and why matcha is so highly valued.
Precautions for Using Matcha
A cup of matcha contains about ½ the caffeine of a cup of coffee, But you might also need to avoid it or consume it in moderation, if you are among those who are on susceptible to the effects of caffeine. Additionally, some prescription drugs do not react well with caffeine.
Some individuals might experience allergic reactions like diarrhea, cardiac arrhythmia and irritable bowel syndrome. If you are going to use matcha for therapeutic purposes, it’s best to consult a health care professional in advance.
Conclusion
These top 15 matcha health benefits are nothing to sneeze at. You may consider the amount of nutrition packed in a ½ tsp of this green powder. So it is no wonder that so many major health concerns can be prevented or cured through its regular consumption.
Try out the variety of recipes above to help improve your health and come up with some of your own! Don’t forget to comment about the matcha health benefits you’ve experienced in the comments below.
The images are from pixabay.com.