Drinking 3 Cups of Green Tea Increases Plasma Antioxidant Activity in Humans by 12%

The antioxidant effect of green tea lasts at least 2 hours. (Photo by modomatic)

Antioxidants have been all over the media in the past few years. Even people who have no idea what antioxidants are know that they're something positive. Green tea has also had more than its fifteen minutes of fame (this blog is just one example). Unsurprisingly, the health benefits of green tea are often attributed to its antioxidant activity.

The truth, however, is more complicated. Studies done in vitro (literally "within the glass") certainly give us a clue on what green tea does, but the human body is more complicated. The fact is that we're still not exactly sure what happens when people drink green tea.

That's why I'm going to review some of the studies comparing the in vitro and in vivo (literally "within the living") effects of green tea. Specifically, I will be looking at studies related to the antioxidant activity of green tea and other teas.

Green tea and antioxidants in human plasma

The first one is by Sung et al. In the study, the authors gave 10 healthy subjects of both sexes green tea and measured the amount of antioxidant capacity in their plasma.

This is a particularly interesting study not only because the subjects were humans but also because the amounts of green tea were small. So small, in fact, that I for one drink more green tea almost every day than the subjects did when consuming the highest dosage.

In the first week, the subjects drank 150 ml of green tea made by boiling 2.5 grams of dried green tea leaves in 80°C for 2 minutes. That's pretty close to one tea bag in one cup of water. In the second and third weeks the amount was doubled and tripled, respectively.



After one hour of ingesting 150 ml of green tea, the plasma antioxidant concentrations of the subjects increased to 1.33 mmol/l. After two hours, the concentration was 1.34 mmol/l. Compared to baseline levels of 1.31 mmol/l, the increases were 0.02 and 0.03 mmol/l.

In the second week, drinking 300 ml of green tea increased antioxidant concentrations from 1.29 to 1.38 mmol/l after one hour and 1.37 mmol/l after two hours. Thus, even though the increase was more significant than with the lower dose, there was a slight decrease after two hours compared to levels measured after the first hour.

After the third week, when the amount was 450 ml of green tea, antioxidant concentrations increased from 1.33 to 1.49 mmol/l at 1 hour and 1.50 mmol/l at 2 hours.

Conclusion

After drinking one cup of green tea, the increase in the total antioxidant capacity of plasma was not statistically significant. However, one hour after drinking two cups of green tea the increase was 7%, and after two hours the increase was 6.2%. After 3 cups and one hour, the increase was 12%, and one hour later rose to 12.7%.

Based on this study, green tea seems to have an antioxidant effect in humans. The effect is dose-dependent and lasts at least 2 hours.

For more information on green tea, see these posts:

Green Tea Catechin Reverses the Effect of DHT in Prostate Cancer Cells
Caffeine and Polyphenol Contents of Green Tea, Black Tea, Oolong Tea & Pu-erh Tea
How Black Pepper Increases the Bioavailability of the Healthiest Green Tea Catechin
Drinking 10 Cups of Green Tea Daily and Not Smoking Could Add 12 Years to Your Life

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Hair Growth Battle: Emu Oil vs. Hair Again® Topical Gel

The fat of the emu bird is used to treat wounds and bruises. (Photo by CmdrGravy)

Ladies and gentlemen, it's time to begin another hair growth battle. The old one between Korean red ginseng and tea tree oil is still running, but since I have no interesting results to post, I'm going ahead and starting a new one alongside it.

In this match I will be pitting emu oil against a product called Hair Again®. Whereas the former is simply a natural oil made from the fat of the emu bird, the latter is a more complex topical gel consisting of several ingredients that are said to help with hair growth. The fight between nature and science is on.

Emu oil is sometimes used to treat burns and wounds, and there is even some science (which I will get to in another post) to back this idea up. It's also claimed to be anti-inflammatory and sometimes sold as a hair growth product, even though there are no studies that suggest emu oil has anything to do with hair. This, of course, makes it ideal for a human experiment.

Hair Again®, on the other hand, claims to be "the most advanced hair growth topical gel in the world", a rather bold claim to say the least. The product contains the following ingredients: coenzyme Q10, glutathione, superoxide dismutase, beta glucan, beta carotene, retinol, vitamin D3, beta-sitosterol, quercetin, progesterone, and melatonin.

Admittedly, some of the ingredients look pretty good, and in my experience retinol really does grow hair in humans. This product is from the same company (Young Again) as the retinol cream I used, so it will be interesting to see whether this one has an effect too.

I will apply the topical gel on my left temple, which has already received a few months' worth of retinol before this. The right temple will get the emu oil treatment. And since emu oil is also sold as a skin care product, I'm going to apply it on the right side of the face as well just to see what happens.

I'll get to the scientific studies related to emu oil and the ingredients in the gel in later posts. Until then, let the battle begin.

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A Typical Day of Intermittent Fasting

Water is an integral part of intermittent fasting. (Photo by Koshyk)

If you're wondering what intermittent fasting (IF) is like in practice, look no further. In this post, I'll describe a typical day (well, two actually) in the life of an intermittent faster.

As I mentioned a while ago, I've been doing intermittent fasting for more than six months now. During that time, I've gotten into a kind of routine where how and what I eat is pretty much fixed from week to week. I don't mean that in a boring way; it's just that when you combine working or studying with fasting, your eating schedule tends to gravitate towards certain patterns.

Since I'm doing the 24/24 hour cycle version of intermittent fasting, it means that at any given day I either start or stop the fast in the afternoon or evening. This moment, known as the break point, may vary slightly from day to day, but recently it's been more or less 6 PM.

Here's a typical day, beginning with a fast (continued from the previous day):

8:00 AM - Wake up
8:15 - drink some water, get to work
8.45 AM - A cup of coffee
10:00 AM - 2:00 PM - Sip on water, drink green tea
2:00 PM - Another cup of coffee
4:15 PM - 5.30 PM Get off work, go to the gym
6:00 PM - Break the fast, eat a warm meal
8:00 PM - Eat some dark chocolate
9:30 PM - Make a smoothie
01:00 AM - Go to bed

The eating window then continues to the second day, which usually looks something like this:

9:00 AM - Wake up
9:15 AM - Drink rest of the smoothie from yesterday, get to classes
10:00 AM - A cup of coffee
12:00 PM - A warm meal
2:00 PM - Another cup of coffee
5:00 PM - A second warm meal
6:00 PM - End the eating period with some dark chocolate
7:00 PM - 10:00 PM - Several cups of green tea
01:00 AM - Go to bed

And repeat from beginning.

Though it may look like I'm eating very little, that's not the case. I'll explain my current diet in more detail in another post, but based on my calculations, I average about 2,000 kcal per day.

How is this possible? By eating large meals. For example, the warm meal that I break the fast with is usually close to 1,300 kcal, much more than an average lunch or dinner. The smoothie is slightly over 300 kcal, and the chocolate is close to 400 kcal.

On the second day, the first warm meal is often something like two chicken breasts, which is about 400 kcal. The second warm meal is again over a 1,000 kcal. The rest of the calories come from the smoothie and the chocolate.

When it's time to break the fast I'm naturally very hungry, but not starving. When I began this experiment, I wasn't working, so I had much more free time. I also slept more and exercised less than I do now, and yet keeping up with the 24/24 hour routine hasn't gotten more difficult as my activity level has increased.

Patience and adaptation, that's really all there is to it.

For more information on intermittent fasting, see these posts:

Intermittent Fasting Improves Insulin Sensitivity Even without Weight Loss
Intermittent Fasting Experiment – Update after 5 Months
The Psychological Effects of Intermittent Fasting
Controlling Hunger During a Fast: Does Green Tea Help?

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