Matcha — the healthiest green tea in the world
Matcha is simply a powdered green tea. When drinking regular green tea you’re just consuming the brew from leaves. In case of matcha whole powdered leaves are consumed. Matcha contains 137 times more antioxidants than regular green tea. It’s probably the best antioxidants product among other “superfoods”. In terms of nutrition content, one cup of matcha equals 10 cups of regular green tea.
ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity) is a unit that measures antioxidant values in foods. Antioxidants have power to neutralize free radicals that cause diseases and premature aging. An ORAC unit was developed by the National Institute on Aging. Here are the ORAC scores for some healthy products (per 100g):
- goji berries — 4310
- wild blueberries — 9621
- dark chocolate — 20818
- pecans — 17940
- kidney beans — 8606
- cranberries — 9090
- blackberries — 5905
- spinach — 1513
- broccoli — 1510
- carrots — 697
- strawberries — 4302
- almonds — 4454
Things get much more interesting in case of herbs and spices:
- clove —290283
- cinnamon — 131420
- oregano — 175295
- turmeric — 127068
- dried parsley — 73670
- basil — 61063
But what is the ORAC score for matcha per 100g? Actually, it’s 138400. Lower than clove and oregano but try to find higher score among other foods. The recommended daily intake of matcha is around 3–5g. So for instance to balance the number of antioxidants in 5g of matcha (ORAC score 6920) you need to consume over 100g of blackberries, over 150g of strawberries, around 1kg of carrots or around 400g of broccoli.
But that’s not all of the benefits of matcha. Find some more below:
✔️ metabolism boost
✔️ effective and natural detoxification
✔️ more relaxed mind and body
✔️ lots of fiber and vitamins
✔️ better concentration and memory
✔️ lower level of bad cholesterol and blood sugar
✔️ more energy thanks to caffeine
✔️ strengthens the immune system
I encourage you to introduce matcha in your everyday diet. The health benefits are tremendous and preparation time is very low. Look only for high quality matchas that are not that cheap but definitely worth the price (e.g. Uji city, Kyoto Prefecture, Japan).
Sources:
🔗 How Does Matcha Stack Up On ORAC Value?
