TT: Drink Green Tea with Citrus Juice to Enjoy More Catechin Power

There are so many important health tips I want to share, I’ve started to write them down in my day planner, to make sure I squeeze them in on certain days when I have less tasks.

Today’s Tip is about adding citrus juice to green tea. I use organic lemon or lime juice, easily available at Carrefour. Here’s why this is important.

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Mario Ferruzzi of Purdue University and several other scientists ran a study in 2007 focusing on the absorption of catechins in green tea in an in vitro environment that simulated those of the human digestive tract (stomach and small intestine). They learned that these fabled antioxidants in green tea, which protect against several types of cancer, fight inflammation, and also boost the immune system, were rather unstable in that simulated environment on account of the small intestine being insufficiently acidic. Only 20% of the catechins were present after digestion.

And here comes the trick: citrus juice is, of course, acidic—which is what these catechins need in order to make it past the digestive tract and get absorbed by our bodies. About 80% of them remain if we add citrus juice to our green tea drinks.

Importantly, it also appears that lemon juice is better than just vitamin C when it comes to helping catechins make it past the small intestine.

In general, superfoods are always called that for more than just their macronutrient content (vitamins and minerals, along with carbs, proteins, fats, and fiber and water). The micronutrients count for a lot too. Catechins are a set of such micronutrients, polyphenolic compounds in the flavonoid family. (Besides green tea, other foods rich in flavonoids include coffee, ginger, apples, and onions.)

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Volcano Burst has a great deal for organic lemon juice. Only $2.69 (for 6.7 fl oz) and it’s not from concentrate!

Volcano Burst also sells organic (and not from concentrate) lime burst. I prefer lime myself, as sometimes lemon sets my teeth on edge and then it can become painful to chew. Funnily enough, though, for some reason I can’t explain not every lemon juice does that to my teeth. So sometimes I go for lemon juice too. I wish I could easily find organic limes, though, because I prefer them in some of my Thai-cuisine-inspired dishes, but the limes we get here in supermarkets come from countries where the use of pesticides is insufficiently regulated—which is not good. I have no idea why we don’t get limes from Italy, for instance. I would pay more for them if only they were available.

But either way, it’s easier and healthier to use organic lime or lemon juice in teas.

Here is that Volcano Lime Burst.

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To a happier, healthier life,

Mira