much less likely to report sick from school

At Ukmedix News we have written loads of news articles about the benefits of green tea in connection with healthy living and maintaining weight loss but this time we want to talk about a study which shows that drinking green tea on a regular basis could even prevent you getting influenza this winter. The study done by Professor Patrick B. Massey from the Alexian Brothers Hospital Network in Illinois, America came up with statistics showing that children who drank green tea had lower rates of influenza infections than those children who did not.

The study which was published by the Journal of Nutrition involved over 2,600 children who drank an average of five cups of green tea every week. The researchers said that those who drank a lot of green tea had a significantly greater chance of not getting influenza and that those who drank the largest amounts of green tea were much less likely to report sick from school.

Professor Massey described the results as being very conclusive and definitely recommended green tea as an influenza prevention strategy. In fact, while it is very possible that green tea has a direct effect on influenza prevention it is also likely that those children who drank a lot of green tea tended to come from families where there was an emphasis on living healthily and eating healthily.  This means that green tree drinking children were not only being protected from influenza viruses directly by the green tea but also they were being protected indirectly because they were not overeating and were generally healthy.

Professor Massey explained that green tea actually contained compounds such as catechins and theanine which could inhibit the replication of influenza virus. He said that catechins and theanine would boost systemic immunity and prevent any influenza virus from taking hold.

There are many things you can do to prevent getting influenza this winter, and the common sense ones like staying away from infected individuals and washing your hands regularly are very important. Getting an influenza jab, stocking up on anti-viral medications like Tamiflu and Relenza and drinking green tea could all help you to keep healthy this winter.