Green tea is beneficial for your body in a variety of ways. While this tea may look fairly average on the surface, it actually includes a host of antioxidants beneficial for eye health including Vitamin C, E, and lutein. Recently, scientists have uncovered the fact that the catechins in green tea can also protect the eye against oxidative stress.

Chi Pui Pang and his colleagues from The Chinese University of Hong Kong researched this topic by studying green-tea drinking rats.  They found out that eye tissues actually absorb the catechins in the system when we drink green tea.  This story was reported in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

Because green tea is consumed and not applied topically, until this study it had been unclear if the catechins were able to penetrate into the eye tissues. After all, it was only apparently obvious that these compounds go into the digestive system.

The retina of the eye seemed to absorb the highest concentration of catechins, and the cornea tended to absorb the least amount of catchehins. Green tea was able to reduce oxidative stress in the eye for almost 24 hours.

Green tea has so many important antioxidants.  The catechins in green tea, especially epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), are very concentrated. These catechins go so far as to fight free radicals that can potentially harm our DNA.

Aside from benefits to the eyes, green tea has a host of other benefits to our bodies.  It can fight off cancer and heart disease.  Studies have also shown that it helps with cholesterol, weight loss, as well as diabetes.

In the past, I have written about green tea extensively including about the benefits to autoimmune diseases, as well as for preventing Alzheimer’s disease.  I am constantly amazed at the new discoveries about what green tea has to offer.  In case you were wondering, I regularly drink the organic green tea made by Traditional Medicinals.

Sources
sciencedaily.com
American Chemical Society (2010, February 20). New evidence that green tea may help fight glaucoma and other eye diseases.
webmd.com
webmd.com