I drink green tea often, and I just started wondering: “Does drinking green tea do me any good?” I was hoping you had some kind of info on that thought…

Recent studies by medical researches seem to point that Green Tea has a variety of health-promoting properties. One study, for example, was conducted in Japan.

Over a five-year period, researchers from Osaka University and Osaka City University looked for a relationship between consumption of Green Tea on development of Type II diabetes in 17,413 individuals (6,727 men and 10,686 women; 40 to 65 years of age) from 25 communities across Japan, who had no history of the disease. There were 444 self-reported new cases of physician-diagnosed diabetes in 231 men and 213 women. Consumption of Green Tea was inversely associated with risk of Type II diabetes after adjustment for age, sex, body mass index, and other risk factors.

Furthermore, total caffeine intake from Green Tea was associated with a 33-percent reduced risk of developing the disease. These inverse associations were even more pronounced in women and overweight men.

Don’t take this as a “Yes” though. You may need to look up several studies and compare them with each other. At least this particular one I have referred to points out associate benefits in drinking coffee. It’s always best to lookup several studies to draw conclusions… and most importantly, to ask your doctor or nutritionist.

SOURCE: Annals of Internal Medicine (144, 8:554-62, 2006) and The Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology (58, 5:599-604, 2006).