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hey, I did some research for you , here is what I got , hope it answer ure questions !!

What Is Green Tea, Anyway?

Green, black, oolong, herbal – what’s the difference? Well, first of all the word "tea" is correctly used only when it refers to leaves taken from the Camellia sinensis bush. And that means that herbal teas really aren’t tea – only green, black and oolong tea are the "real thing." That said, the way the Camellia sinensis leaves are processed will determine which of these three choices the end product becomes.

To make black tea, the freshly picked tea leaves must be fermented. Fermenting occurs when an enzyme in the tea leaf called polyphenol oxidase combines with oxygen, so the leaves are left in the sun to wither and dry for 18-24 hours, then broken up to encourage further fermentation.. Then firing the leaves stops the fermentation and dries them. Making oolong tea is similar, although the withering and fermenting processes are shorter, resulting in a partially-fermented leaf. But to make green tea the leaf isn’t fermented at all – in fact, just the opposite! The tea leaves are steamed almost immediately after picking in order to stop the fermentation process, after which they are rolled and dried.

The health benefits of the resulting tea will largely be determined by whether or not the tea leaf has been fermented. The fresh tea leaf contains large amounts of catechins (pronounced "CAT-i-kins"), powerful disease fighters and potent antioxidants that give green tea its health-enhancing abilities. But when exposed to air and polyphenol oxidase, the catechins change into completely different compounds called theaflavins and thearubigens. The theaflavins and thearubigens, which give black tea its distinctive taste, aroma and dark color, do have some health benefits, but not the same wide-ranging antioxidant and disease-fighting prowess seen in the catechins.

How Much Green Tea Do You Need?

By now you know that green tea catechins can do great things for your health. But how much green tea do you need on a daily basis to experience the health benefits? Most studies have concluded that the "magic number" lies somewhere between 300 -1,000 mg. of catechins per day, or the equivalent of 3-10 cups of green tea. This recommendation is based on the idea that the average cup of green tea contains 100 mg. of catechins per cup. However, studies have shown that some cups of green tea contain only half that amount or even less.

The variation in catechin content is probably due to the fact that green tea leaves are a crop like any other. They can be young or old, fresh or stale, from rich or poor soil. And during harvesting, processing and packaging, the tea leaves can be exposed to different conditions that either preserve or destroy their nutrients. The way you handle, brew and store your green tea at home can also make a difference in the catechin content.

· Use purified water, as the chlorine in tap water degrades the catechins and destroys the subtle flavor of green tea.
· Avoid tea kettles made of metal alloys containing iron since iron lowers the antioxidant of activity of catechins.1 Kettles made of high-grade stainless steel, nickel-plated metal alloys, copper,polypropylene plastic, lead-free porcelain or glass are best.
· Bring the water to a full boil and add to the tea immediately. Steeping tea leaves at 212° F for five minutes releases approximately 80 percent of the catechins. In contrast, the catechin release is over one-third less when tea is steeped at 176° F.2
· Don’t put the tea leaves in water and then microwave them. This will "overcook" them and destroy some of the catechins.
· Keep your tea in an airtight container in the refrigerator, even if it comes in pre-packaged bags. This will keep the tea leaves fresher and help preserve the catechins.

Green Tea & Obesity

Green tea has become the latest weapon in the war on weight. Oprah is a recent enthusiast, vowing that she’d trade her coffee for green tea when Dr. Nicholas Perricone told her she could lose weight simply by making this substitution. But does it really work? The results of some new studies are promising, indicating that green tea can increase the rate of calorie burning, prevent excess weight gain and even reverse established obesity. And although most tests have been performed on laboratory animals, at least one with humans showed that taking in the equivalent of 3 cups of green tea per day helped the body burn a significant amount of additional calories.

Increased rate of fat burning - A 1999 study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition looked at the effects of green tea extract on energy "burning" in humans.1 Men who took daily doses of a green tea extract containing EGCg plus caffeine, in an amount equivalent to that found in about 3 cups of green tea, burned about 80 more calories per day than those who didn’t take the extract. (Taking the caffeine without the EGCg didn’t have the same effect.) While burning an extra 80 calories per day may not seem like much, over the course of a year that adds up to 29,200 calories, or a little more than 8 pounds lost – without making any other changes!

Prevention of excess weight gain - In a study involving animals, green tea extract helped prevent obesity. Two groups of mice were placed on a high-fat diet designed to ensure they would gain weight, with only one group also receiving green tea extract. The mice that were given green tea extract ended up gaining 47% less weight than those that didn’t get the extract.2

Reversal of obesity - In a 2005 study published in the Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism, green tea extract actually helped to reverse established obesity. Rats were deliberately overfed to make them obese. But when the obese rats were given supplemental EGCg, the amount of fatty tissue on their bodies decreased markedly, reversing their obesity.3

What happens in the body to produce such fat-fighting results? Green tea’s EGCg is believed to rev up the fat-burning effects of brown fat,4 a special kind of body fat that burns calories at a very high rate. In animal studies, green tea has been found to help send glucose to muscle tissue where the glucose is more likely to be burned, rather than to fat tissue, where it’s more likely to be stored.5 And in test-tube studies, green tea extract inhibited the action of fat-digesting enzymes,6 meaning the fat from foods may be less likely to be broken down and absorbed in the digestive tract.

More research is needed before we can say that green tea definitely helps you lose weight, but it certainly looks like a good bet!

How Green Tea Fights Cancer

Cancer is the uncontrolled growth of body cells. As teh cells multiply and grow wildly, they "forget" how they're supposed to act and begin to take on dangerous new roles. Like selfish bullies, cancer cells gobble up nearby territory and resources, damaging and destroying healthy tissue. The cancer process unfolds in three stages: initiation, promotion and progression. And both test-tube and animal studies have shown that green tea can fight cancer at all three.
Fighting cancer before it starts
During the initiation stage, a healthy cell is exposed to free radicals and other cancer-causing substances which break into the cell, "hijack" its DNA, and change that cell into a cancer cell. You can think of the cell as a computer that someone has hacked into and reprogrammed. Green tea's catechins can help prevent or minimize this "reprogramming by stabilizing free radicals and making certain carcinogens less toxic. The catechins may also help to prevent cancer-causing substances from binding to the DNA of healthy cells in the first place.

Keeping cancer from "getting into gear"
After a cell is initiated by cancer-causing substances, it might lie quietly for weeks, months, or even years, causing no real damage. But during the promotion stage, something "trips a switch" and the initiated cell starts to multiply uncontrollably, forming a mass of tissue called a tumor. It's as if someone has just logged on to that newly "reprogrammed computer," the initiated cell. Studies have found that green tea catechins can inhibit or even prevent this "promotion" step.

The catechins can also fight cancer at the next step in the cancer process. If the promotion stage is successful and a tumor does begin to grow, it will need a blood supply in order to feed itself. It establishes a blood supply by creating its own blood vessels and plugging them into those found in nearby healthy tissue, a process called angiogenesis. The catechins help to slow or even call a halt to angiogenesis, effectively starving the tumor.

Slowing the growth and spread of tumors
During the progression stage, the tumor invades healthy tissue, eats up nutrients and crowds out healthy cells. Left to its own devices, the tumor can cause massive tissue damage and, in certain cases, death. Green tea's catechins help ward off cancer at the progression stage by slowing tumor growth. The "super-catechin" EGCg also encourages cancer cells to "self-destruct."

In light of these many anti-cancer effects, it's not suprising that several studies of large groups of people have shown that drinking green tea can help protect against various cancers including those of the breast, lung, prostate, skin and stomach. While more study is needed before we can say for sure that green tea actually prevents cancer in humans, the prospects look very promising.

Green Tea and Breast Cancer

Scientists have long been curious about the fact that breast cancer rates are lower in countries where green tea consumption is high. Can drinking green tea really keep breast