For hundreds of years, many people all over the world have been drinking green tea for its healthful properties. In fact, people in China and India have been reaping its benefits for several thousand years! Green tea was enjoyed both as a ceremonious luxury and as a means to good health.

Now green tea is conquering the west as a weight loss supplement. Thankfully, people appreciate it for more than just another weight loss hyped supplement, however. It is well-regarded as a natural supplement for many purposes, and unlike many natural supplements, it has gained great respect and interest within mainstream media. Even Oprah Winfrey discussed its healthful properties on her show.

So you may thinking at this point, “okay, it’s good for me… but how exactly is it good for me?”

The scientific evidence is mounting as over one thousand studies indicate that this super food can help you lower your bad cholesterol, aid in weight loss diets, slow the development of arthritis and provide a wide spectrum of benefits related to its behavior as an antioxidant.

Antioxidants fight free radicals in your system, keeping them from damaging your cells and DNA. Thus some studies provide some preliminary indication that green tea may help suppress the growth of cancer cells. In fact, a strong cup of quality green tea often contains more antioxidants than a serving of several well-respected healthy vegetables, including spinach, carrots and broccoli.

So given all these fantastic benefits, you can see why the health industry has developed numerous green tea related supplements. They aim to make it easier for you to consume a large quantity of its antioxidants with a simple pill.

But it isn’t that easy. The research to support supplements originating from this tea isn’t quite as strong as the research support regular consumption of strong, fresh tea beverages. Often times manufacture isolate certain traits of this super food tea so that the total constituents of the original substance aren’t preserved. And it appears that there is a synergistic effect to consuming the tea in its natural form.

In recent years, however, manufacturers have grown more savvy this dilemma. The highest quality supplements now facilitate more natural absorption by attempting to include the same profile of nutritional properties as the original green tea source.

We still don’t know for sure whether this mimics the natural properties of a cup of tea, but it does allow us to consume a far greater concentration of its nutritious flavonoids and antioxidants than we could possibly manage by just drinking the tea. I think the best thing you can do is try it for yourself.