What Can't Green Tea Help?
The book, Health Benefits of Green Tea: an evidence-based approach, provides the chemical and historical background of how green tea was discovered for its antioxidant properties. Hara applies his vast knowledge of chemistry to highlight the soluble chemicals like caffeine that stimulate the nervous system and catechins that are oxidized during tea preparation to make it as it is found in stores today. The book provides the “how” to the link between tea and health with explanations and evidence to support how the property of tea is used today. I had questions about how these chemicals were in tea, whether they were modified extensively to obtain these healing agents. Through the book I understand that there are different species of the Camilla Sinensis that tea comes from, and different species contain different chemicals. Health Benefits on Green Tea: an evidence-based approach provides chemistry and tea lovers with the opportunity to learn about tea on the molecular level.
The book is a scholarly edited collection with contributions from many editors blending different perspectives on the same topic. All of the essays were centered around the effect of green tea catechins on a particular disease or pathogen. They were fluid essays that switched between topics seamlessly, without a noticeable difference in each. This knowledge is a contribution to the discipline of nutritional science and biochemistry.
The organization of the book makes it easier for the reader to locate the specific information. The collection goes into depths on the effects green tea has on a different system or disease each chapter and provided an in-depth explanation, along with an abstract and introduction. Hara includes diagrams within the chapters that can help the reader visualize the information from the text. The book contains an extensive index with terms linked back to the pages they were discussed on. The terms can be understood through reading the pages linked. On each edition of the collection, there are key terms, for example, the chapter on antidiabetic affects has keywords of “diabetes, green tea, hyperglycemia, insulin resistance,” which can be found in the index as well.
Although I was not the typical audience of the book, I was still able to understand the knowledge that the book provided. While I had some difficulties due to my lack of knowledge on specific chemicals found in tea, the message of the book was delivered across the gap of knowledge. The audience of the book is for those with extensive knowledge on biochemistry and the nutritional benefits of different chemicals. Ideally, graduate chemistry students who are interested in the antioxidant properties of green tea would jump to read this book. I would not recommend this book to anyone who does not have prior knowledge of chemistry due to the intensity of the content. However, using the illustrations and diagrams that is provided, broad knowledge of the book can be absorbed.
The information aligns with similar sources I have read as I was researching. It mentions how tea has been used dating back almost 3000 years and the origination being in China. The book stated that it was not going to cover the entirety of teas history, only the aspects that align with the health aspects of Camellia Sinensis. Tea can possibly provide anticarcinogenic properties upon drinking it. I had always believed tea to be useful for minor sicknesses, like the common cold, or relaxation before sleep. Thinking that tea could prevent something as fatal as cancer was interesting for me to read upon the different ways teas could be used.
Health Benefits of Green Tea: an evidence-based approach offers information about the chemical and historical aspects of the preparation, composition and species of Camilla Sinensis in Green Tea. The diagrams and illustrations, detailed chapters and references make complex information easier to understand, widening the audience. I would recommend this book to anyone who would be interested!
