What you put into your body is one of the most important factors when it comes to the overall toxic load in your body. Some foods, like fast food, fried food, processed food, soda, and alcohol, contribute toxic compounds that harm your health.1 Other foods, like many whole plant-based foods do just the opposite, helping to protect your body from toxin-induced harm. (*2)
In this series, we are highlighting foods that are particularly powerful when it comes to protecting the body from toxins and enhancing natural detoxification pathways.
The Superfood Tea: Green Tea
Green tea is one of the most popular beverages worldwide. (*3) Its rich history began thousands of years ago in Southeast Asia and China, where its popularity is largely credited to its taste, rather than its health benefits.
In recent years, however, many studies have examined the wide-reaching health benefits associated with green tea consumption. If you are looking for an alternative to water, green tea is one of the healthiest options available.
Green Tea, Toxins, and Liver Health
Green tea is one of the most widely-studied functional foods when it comes to helping the body detox. (*4) These benefits are largely credited to the high quantity and variety of polyphenols, such as green tea catechins, found in green tea.
Studies have found green tea to protect against damage caused by heavy metals, smoke, pesticides, mycotoxins (poisonous chemical compounds found in certain foods, including corn and peanut products), and endocrine-disrupting chemicals such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). (*3)
Green tea helps to clear these toxic chemicals from the body in a variety of ways. It has been found to:4
- Possess powerful anti-inflammatory abilities
- Act as an antioxidant, scavenging reactive oxygen species
- Remove heavy metals through chelation, binding to these metals and allowing the body to excrete them
Numerous studies have found that drinking green tea can help to reduce the chance of liver disease, which can keep this primary organ responsible for detoxification working well. (*4)
How Much Green Tea for Detox?
You can either choose to drink green tea or take green tea supplements, most notably green tea polyphenol (GTP) supplements. Based on clinical studies, around four cups of green tea per day, or 500 – 1,000 mg/day GTP, is ideal for health purposes. (*3)
An added benefit of green tea? It is a caffeinated beverage, helping to give you an extra boost of energy when you need it. Green tea has less caffeine than coffee, so it can help to increase energy without as much of an energy drop as it wears off.
Final Thoughts
Green tea is a superfood tea that can help to promote overall health and wellbeing. It is a superstar when it comes to its detoxification abilities, and with its added benefits for liver health, it is one of our favorite detox beverages.
Try buying organic loose-leaf green tea or green tea bags rather than more processed and sugar-laden bottled or canned options. If you find that you don’t love the taste of green tea, try loose-leaf tea or tea bags that have green tea in combination with things like fruit or peppermint to mask the taste. Additionally, you can add some monk fruit sweetener or local honey to add some natural sweetness to it.
An even more powerful option when it comes to health benefits is matcha green tea. Matcha is a finely ground green tea powder that you mix with water or milk to create a matcha tea latte. Because you are consuming the whole leaf rather than just steeping it, you will obtain even greater detoxification benefits.
