Green Tea Extract Supplements That Are Good for the Skin

Green tea has been a delicious beverage for the past 5,000 years ever since the Chinese emperor Shen Nung accidentally found out how good it tastes. Soon after, so the story goes, green tea became known for being a health aid. Ever since then, science has been trying to unlock its beneficial properties, one of which seems to protect skin from the ravages of the sun's harmful UV rays and cancer.

Fresh Camellia Sinsensis Plants

• The National Cancer Institute (NCI) has been investigating and testing green tea for its ability to prevent cancerous skin changes and in slowing down the growth of cancerous growths on the skin. (Green tea is produced when fresh camellia sinensis plants are brewed.) Camellia sinensis has been incorporated into pills and skin products.

  Studies performed on lab animals have shown green tea's ability to prevent and slow the growth of some cancers. When similar studies were conducted on human subjects, results were not as conclusive.

Polyphenols and Catechins

• Polyphenols (tested in tissue cultures and animal models) found in green tea have been shown to be protective against "free radicals," which cause dangerous changes in the cells of the body. Yet in epidemiological tests conducted on human models, the results were extrapolated from statistical correlations. While there have been links found between consumption of green tea and its effect on certain diseases, this information is not yet considered solid.

  Green tea appears to work, not by blocking UV rays, but by blocking free radicals and reducing inflammation caused by the sun.

  Green tea's antioxidant properties also help slow the formation of wrinkles, sagging skin and other aging signs. The polyphenols in green tea may have an effect in slowing the signs of aging. A 2005 study reported that 40 women with "moderate" signs of aging were divided into two groups; one group received a combination of 10 percent green tea cream and 300 mg of oral green tea supplementation. The second group received a placebo preparation for eight weeks. After the study ended, skin biopsies from all of the women were histologically graded. Researchers found significant improvement in the elasticity of tissue samples from the green tea-treated skin samples.

EGCG

• Epigallocatechin gallate, or EGCG, is a member of the polyphenol family and is abundant in green tea. An oral green tea supplement can help protect the skin from cancer caused by overexposure to the sun. Although green tea ingredients are now being added to several skin preparations, if you don't put it on all exposed areas of your skin, you still run the risk of developing a skin cancer on those spots you missed. According to a study led by M.W. Wright, and published in the Journal of American Academy of Dermatology in May 2001, if you take a green tea supplement orally, the protection from the supplement will protect your skin more uniformly.

Tea or Oral Supplement

• You can either drink green tea or take an oral supplement. In the Journal of Dermatology, November 2000, D.R. Bickers and M. Athar wrote that if you drink four to six cups of tea per day, you will give yourself good protection against cancerous changes in your skin. You can also take an oral green tea supplement, 250 to 400 mg per day with a 90 percent polyphenol content. Again, this will give you good protection against skin cancer.

Green Tea Versus Black Tea

• According to D.R. Bickers and M. Athar, while black tea has some cancer fighting properties, green tea, which is unfermented, contains more polyphenols, which makes it a more effective weapon against skin cancer.

  A study published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, December 17, 1997, concluded that green tea's properties may also prevent the formation of leukocytes or white blood cells indicative of early skin cancer. According to the study, when EGCG was tested in test tubes, it programmed cancerous skin cells to kill themselves while leaving healthy skin cells alone.