Green tea: how healthy is it? Nutritionists disagree

The presence of green tea in the diet can have both positive and extremely negative consequences for the human body.

Nutritionists, whom we asked to explain the role of green tea in the diet and the degree of its impact on our well-being, told OBOZREVATEL in exclusive comments.

Nutritionist Olha Naboka: Green tea is much healthier than black tea

"Green tea is much healthier than black tea, but I wouldn't advise getting too carried away with it. This tea, like coffee, contains caffeine, but it has a more pronounced antioxidant effect, which is very good. It is better to buy green tea as a leaf, never as a bagged tea. As a last resort, you can buy tea in pyramids with whole leaves. You can drink no more than five cups a day."

Nutritionist Serhii Antoniuk: I would not say that stories about the benefits of green tea are an exaggeration

"Green tea is really healthy, and I wouldn't say that stories about its benefits are exaggerations. Green tea contains caffeine and tannin. This caffeine is absorbed more slowly than the one contained in coffee. Therefore, the effect of green tea is milder than that of coffee. In addition, green tea has a fairly high content of antioxidants, but in order to preserve them, you need to brew tea at a temperature of 75 degrees. This tea should be brewed not with boiling water, but with water that has cooled down a bit."

Nutritionist Olena Yudina: Good green teas cost about 500 hryvnias per 100 grams

"The problem is that the tea we sell cannot be called tea. It is not the kind of tea that can be called a quality product. Even the expensive varieties that are sold here for 70-80 hryvnias per pack are low-quality teas. Good green teas cost about 500 hryvnias per 100 grams, and they are simply not sold here. Therefore, there is no point in talking about the benefits of the green tea that is currently sold in our stores. There are two big differences between high-quality green tea and what we sell under the guise of green tea. High-quality tea is really rich in caffeine, has a tonic effect, and causes a surge of energy. Once you've tasted really good tea, you won't be able to drink what we sell under the guise of tea. The teas sold here are flavored teas, and they have nothing useful in them."

Nutritionist Lyudmyla Honcharova: I do not recommend drinking any teas without genetic analysis

"I do not recommend drinking any teas without genetic analysis. A person should know what they are genetically predisposed to. Each person has their own genetics and their own enzymatic system. For some, green tea is a medicine, for others, it is a poison that causes heart palpitations, tachycardia, spots on the face, etc. If green tea is not suitable for a person, it has a pathological effect on their central nervous system. Excitement is just as bad as being too inhibited. In case of overexcitement, dementia, memory impairment, attention, and thinking disorders can develop."