World | USA
Green tea may trim ‘bad' cholesterol
Trials show drinking the beverage or taking extracts in capsule form lowers levels of LDLs
- Reuters
- Published: 00:00 November 18, 2011
- Image Credit: Supplied
New York: Green tea, taken in a capsule or drunk in a cup, may shave a few points off "bad" cholesterol readings, according to a US study involving more than a thousand people.
The findings, published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, showed that green tea trimmed five to six points more from people's total cholesterol and "bad" LDL cholesterol levels than dummy capsules or other treatments. The trials tested either green tea itself or capsules containing green-tea compounds called catechins, which are thought to decrease cholesterol absorption in the gut.
Effective
Green tea in a cup was more consistently effective than capsules, though the benefits overall were fairly small, noted senior researcher Olivia Phung, an assistant professor of pharmacy at Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, California.
"If someone is already taking medication for their cholesterol, they should stick with it and not try to trade it for green tea, either capsules or the beverage," she told Reuters Health in an email.
But adding green tea to your diet could be one way to further improve cholesterol numbers, she said.
News Editor's choice
-
Ukraine leaders fight over Russian language
Violence erupts in Ukraine parliament over a bill to allow use of Russian language in courts, hospitals
-
CBSE: 100% success in many UAE schools
6,000 students from 53 schools meet grade expectations in examinations
-
'I can’t believe he is not going to come back'
Seventeen-year-old boy went missing in Dubai during a visit from Pakistan
