Can Green Tea Protect Skin?

Modern science has discovered chemicals in green tea that can inhibit many diseases, including cancer. Those same compounds are now showing up in dozens of skin care products like soap, skin lotion and cosmetics. Is this is just a passing fad, or can it really protect your skin?

It’s been part of Asian cultures for thousands of years. Now in this millennium, green tea has enjoyed a revival.

“With Eastern medicines, things are going to be more slow and natural, and some of them may be more preventive things, says Barbara Reed, M.D., a dermatologist at the Denver Skin Clinic in Colorado.

Pam Fitzgerald was constantly exposed to the sun as a child. Both her parents have had skin cancer. She hopes green tea will act as a natural defense.

“I know that I’m predisposed to skin cancer, and I would like to use something that would prevent that,” says Pam.

Delivery and dosage are the keys to green tea. Six to eight cups a day are enough to make a difference, but for some, that’s a lot of caffeine. Also using products with tea extracts on your skin can help if the lotion has at least 10 percent of the active ingredients.

Dr. Reed says, “A person has to really concentrate on either drinking that much, if they can handle the caffeine, taking a pill, or putting something on their skin.”

To benefit from this old wisdom to lower your cancer risk and protect your skin, Dr. Reed says rub it on, or drink up! She also says it’s easy to be misled by labels since most products containing green tea don’t say how much is inside. By law, ingredients are listed on the label in order of quantity, so if green tea is one of the first few, there’s probably enough to generate some therapeutic benefits.

Source: Ivanhoe News