Incorporating Catechin into Your Diet
Catechin is the component that gives green tea it’s astringency. Catechin can be divided into two main types. In this article we’ll be introducing the ‘Gallate-Type Catechin’ and how it relates to cholesterol.
Cholesterol is a lipid (fat). It plays a crucial role in the body, including the production of cell membrane and the hormones needed to regulate biological functions. However if the amount of cholesterol in the body becomes excessive, the concentration of cholesterol being pumped around in the blood stream also increases and leads to damage of blood vessels and eventually arteriosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries.
Did you know there are multiple varieties of catechin? In fact, the benefits catechin are also different depending on the variety. There are 8 types of catechin, but they can be divided into two categories. These categories are the ‘Gallate-Type’ and ‘Free Morphemes’; the former being made up of gallate elements, and latter not including any gallate elements.
Out of these categories only the ‘Gallate-Type’ catechin has the ability to allow the body to absorb the cholesterol ingested from meals, and then discharge it from the body.
Generally ‘Gallate-Type Catechin’ is found in green, black, and oolong tea, but out of these teas green tea has the highest concentration.
Gallate-type catechin helps to control cholesterol absorption, including cholesterol contained in food and bile (the digestive fluid that helps absorb fat) it is best consumed with meals. Green tea that has been brewed once, and even a second or third re-brew still contains gallate-type catechin, so it can be enjoyed easily with meals to aide the fight against cholesterol.
Gallate-type catechin, with it’s properties in the suppression of cholesterol absorption, has been proven to even help women; who are known to have particular difficulty in keeping cholesterol levels low.
After reading this article what do you think about diet and green tea, and the relationship between catechin and cholesterol?
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