Green Tea is rising in popularty these days as the antioxidant-rich liquid beverage of choice. I recently came across an article (although over a year old) that describes the results found by Mario Ferruzzi, assistant professor of food science at Purdue University in Indiana. He found that the antioxidant catechins in Green Tea were susceptible to be broken own in the intestines before their beneficial effect could be realized, but the presence of a little citrus juice vastly improved the absorption rate:
Ferruzzi and his colleagues experimented by adding a variety of substances to green tea and then simulated digestion. Citrus juices, including from limes, grapefruits, lemons and oranges, increased the levels of catechins by more than five times, with an 81 to 98 per cent recovery for EGC, 56 to 75 per cent for EGCG, 86 to 95 per cent for EC and 30 to 55 per cent for ECG. Lemon juice was the most effective at preserving catechins in green tea, the study found. [CBC News]
According to the scientists, the reasoning behind this phenomenon is that Vitamin C prevents oxidative damage to te catechins in teh intestines.
So the next time you grab a cup of green-tea, make sure you throw a lemon wedge in there as well!
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I have been intrigued by Green tea for a long time now and my wife and daughter like it a lot but I still can’t get past the taste. Green tea does not taste really bad but has kind of a strange taste. I bet the added lemon, as well as being good for you would really make it taste better.