# What are benefits of green tea? Your experiences?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-benefits-of-green-tea-your-experiences/9310
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [March 25, 2000, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-benefits-of-green-tea-your-experiences/9310 "2000-03-25T00:33:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Sycorax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sycorax)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2000, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-benefits-of-green-tea-your-experiences/9310/1 "2000-03-25T00:33:00Z")
I didn’t know much about green tea (the latest trend in herbal remedies), but thought I’d seen something about helping with weight loss, so I got a box of Lipton green tea bags. The first morning I drank about half a cup and I got very nauseous. The second morning, I was mildly nauseous. I don’t usually have breakfast, just juice & coffee, so thought maybe the green tea on an empty stomach was not a good idea, but I don’t have time for breakfast. Day 5 of drinking it in the morning and still feel mildly nauseous. Now I’m having some strange,er, how should I say, bowel reactions (strong feeling of having to have a b.m., but just a little watery stuff with some small bits of matter when I try to go). Have you had any nausea or bowel disturbance from drinking green tea? Any benefits you’ve experienced?
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### Author:  [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2000, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-benefits-of-green-tea-your-experiences/9310/2 "2000-03-25T00:42:00Z")
Although I too have some Lipton green tea in my cupboard, I also have some much more tastier brands available from Asian grocery stores. If you’ve enjoyed the tea served at Japanese restaurants, you might be in for a disappointment if you rely on Lipton. Good green teas also come in brands that have a roasted flavor, or are mixed with rice tea. The rice teas have a taste that might remind you of Kellog’s breakfast cereal, especially if you put sugar in them. The stuff’s really an aquired taste, and I’d hazard to guess that anything you ingest because “it’s good for you,” rather than because you relish it may cause nausea.
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Your deep sea diving suit is ready, me brave lad.
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### Author:  [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2000, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-benefits-of-green-tea-your-experiences/9310/3 "2000-03-25T00:45:00Z")
Try the Celestial Seasonings green tea. Very tasty.
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You should tell the truth, expose the lies and live in the moment."-Bill Hicks
“You should tell the lies, live the truth and expose yourself.” - Bill Clinton
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### Author:  [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2000, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-benefits-of-green-tea-your-experiences/9310/4 "2000-03-25T03:35:00Z")
From [OnHealth](http://search.onhealth.com/home/search/search.asp?qt=Green+Tea):
> [@](#):
>
> Japanese researchers may have uncovered more evidence that green tea is good for you, provided you can quaff a potful a day. Their new study suggests this beverage may raise levels of HDL (good) cholesterol and lower total cholesterol. The more green tea one drinks, the greater the effect, according to a report in the March 18 British Medical Journal. Last year a different group linked green tea drinking to lower rates of esophageal cancer.
>
> Both studies, however, were “look-back” studies that asked people to recall their habits and behaviors. Results from such work isn’t always confirmed by more rigorous clinical trials. For example, people who drink green tea may eat different foods or exercise more regularly than others, and it may be these behaviors, not the green tea, that account for the health benefits. And since all the study subjects were Japanese men, even if the tea does lower cholesterol and fight cancer, there’s no guarantee it will affect Americans the same way.
>
> Nor will drinking green tea counteract an unhealthy diet. It takes a lot of tea to have a modest effect–of the 1,300 men studied, those who drank more than 10 cups of green tea a day had serum cholesterol levels that averaged 183, while those who drank fewer than four cups a day averaged 194.
>
> Green and black tea both come from the same plant, Camellia sinensis. Only the processing is different–harvested leaves exposed to plenty of air during drying become black tea; making green tea requires steaming and drying the leaves at high temperatures without much oxygen present. Researchers suspect that compounds called polyphenols, which are preserved during processing, may account for green tea’s apparent benefit.
I prefer Jasmin tea. A little goes a long way, it’s fairly cheap, no side effects and it makes me feel pure. Talk about a panacea…
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### Author:  [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2000, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-benefits-of-green-tea-your-experiences/9310/5 "2000-03-25T04:25:00Z")
Green tea has as much caffeine as black tea, often more. If you don’t normally drink coffee or tea, that may be it. Otherwise I don’t know of any negative effects of green tea.
As Slithy said, you might try some better Japanese green tea from asian markets. Also, you should not use boiling water for green tea; it destroys the flavor. Doesn’t matter much for cheap tea, but if you get quality green tea, let the boiling water sit in a bowl or cup for a minute and then pour into the teapot.
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### Author:  [@Sycorax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sycorax)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2000, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-benefits-of-green-tea-your-experiences/9310/6 "2000-03-25T04:49:00Z")
Hmmm…interesting, but I’m mystified about the nausea and bowel thing; I was thinking that maybe the body needs some adjustment time, but if no one else has experienced these symptoms…I just don’t know. Haven’t changed my diet otherwise. Maybe I need to drink more of it – I’ve just been having a cup in the morning at work, but this is after I’ve had 2 cups of coffee at home. Maybe the coffee/tea mix is the problem (on an empty stomach). I’ll try a better brand of the tea, and maybe drink it later in the day. Thanks all.
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### Author:  [@Billdo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Billdo)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2000, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-benefits-of-green-tea-your-experiences/9310/7 "2000-03-25T06:40:00Z")
Sycorax,
Just thinking about it for a moment, if despite it’s being “the latest trend in herbal remedies” and being reported to have some possible health benefts in a not-wholly-scientific study, when you drink it you feel nauseous and have bowel reactions, why bother with the damn stuff?
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### Author:  [@Sycorax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sycorax)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2000, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-benefits-of-green-tea-your-experiences/9310/8 "2000-03-25T20:33:00Z")
Bill - I see what you mean, but thought the tea might actually be helping my bowel. I’ve always had a problem with constipation and I thought the bowel “disturbance” might mean it was “loosening things up” if you get my drift, and last night I had good results. Also, I was never big on hot tea, but I do love iced tea, so thought I’d drink the green tea iced (and later in the day). I didn’t want to overreact and blame the tea for these goofy symptoms and thought I’d give it a chance. If things haven’t settled down in a week or so, I’m going to forget about it. Thanks.
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### Author:  [@Myron\_Van\_Horowitzski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myron_Van_Horowitzski)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2000, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-benefits-of-green-tea-your-experiences/9310/9 "2000-03-27T15:11:00Z")
In my experience, best not to drink tea on an empty stomach. The tannins in tea are quite acidic. It may be a little better if you put milk in it; this neutralizes the acids.
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Imbibo, ergo sum.
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### Author:  [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2000, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-benefits-of-green-tea-your-experiences/9310/10 "2000-03-27T16:03:00Z")
‘Green tea has as much caffeine as black tea’
It sure does. I don’t know just how much but that stuff keeps me up for hours so I don’t drink it anymore.
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### Author:  [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)
#### Post date: [March 27, 2000, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-benefits-of-green-tea-your-experiences/9310/11 "2000-03-27T17:12:00Z")
A guy at work had a bottle of green tea which had been produced in the United States but, no doubt to make it look more exotic, had two large chinese characters printed on the side. I always wondered what these characters were, and finally got a chance to ask a woman from Taiwan. She looked at me funny, then told me “they say ‘Green Tea’”.
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### Author:  [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2000, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-benefits-of-green-tea-your-experiences/9310/12 "2000-03-28T16:10:00Z")
Try green tea ice cream. Its like pot.
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### Author:  [@Zor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zor)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2000, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-benefits-of-green-tea-your-experiences/9310/13 "2000-03-28T17:00:00Z")
Sycorax, if you’re drinking iced green tea in the morning, then your problem might just be your stomach getting irritated from the low temperature. Drinking cold beverages in the morning can cause your intestines to squirm, and as you put it, loosen things up. You get the same results by having cold milk in the morning…
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### Author:  [@Sycorax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sycorax)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2000, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-benefits-of-green-tea-your-experiences/9310/14 "2000-03-29T00:26:00Z")
No, I dont’ drink iced drinks in the morning.
(Even cold water in the morning makes me sick). I have been having the green tea iced in the evening with no nausea or other symptoms. I’ll see how it goes. Thanks everyone.