EGCG

EGCG isn’t a compound that you’re likely immediately familiar with.

Which is funny to me because many of the bonafide health benefits provided by various “health drinks” you drink rely on EGCG in order to support your health.

EGCG stands for Epigallocatechin gallate.

This compound is an ester (a chemical derived from acids with specific properties) of  epigallocatechin and gallic acid, and is a type of catechin (which are natural phenol and antioxidants).

EGCG is one of the most abundant nutrients in certain kinds of drinks and is the most abundant in teas.

Now that we have that bit of science and explanation out of the way let me give you the details on why you’d want to get tons of EGCG into your body on a daily basis.

• It’s a known antioxidant and can help keep dangerous inflammation at bay
• Helps to keep the brain healthy and protected
• May improve the health of your heart 
• Keeps your metabolism balanced and could aid in weight loss

We’ll go into the details of how EGCG works as well as going over some of the best sources of EGCG to consider if you plan on making this a part of your daily routine.

If You Like Your Brain, You’ll Get EGCG Into Your Veins

My recommendation to get EGCG into your veins is a half-hearted attempt at humor.

The good news is you don’t need to inject EGCG because consuming certain kinds of drinks and foods will allow for you to digest EGCG and cause it to be diffused through your intestines and into your blood.

And because it can be taken up by blood and carried through your body it has the power to quell potentially damaging inflammation:

1- Helps to Fight Inflammation:

I think the vast majority of experts who know about EGCG would strongly associate its ability to boost your health with its antioxidant power.

As you know, antioxidants are essential for helping to ensure dangerous oxidized chemicals called free radicals don’t disrupt cell function.

These particles can interfere with cell function and lead to something known as oxidative stress.

Ansley Hill, RD, LD writes this about how EGCG helps mitigate the danger of oxidative stress:

“As an antioxidant, EGCG protects your cells from damage associated with oxidative stress and suppresses the activity of pro-inflammatory chemicals produced in your body, such as tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha).

Stress and inflammation are linked to a variety of chronic illnesses, including cancer, diabetes, and heart disease.

Thus, the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects of EGCG are thought to be one of the main reasons for its broad disease-preventing applications.”

2 - Influences Metabolism and Aids in Weight Loss:

In addition to helping to protect your cells from oxidative stress, EGCG can also help you lose weight.

And what you might not realize is that in addition to helping you look better (and feel better) losing weight is one of the most monumentally important steps towards maintaining perfect health.

Carrying around extra weight, even just a few pounds, causes your body to produce inflammatory cytokines.

Excess weight puts stress on your immune system, your endocrine system and also taxes your pulmonary, cardiovascular, and neurological systems.

And EGCG can help you shed unwanted pounds.

How?

One researched method for enhancing weight loss is EGCG can act as an appetite suppressant which helps to keep you from overeating and putting on too much weight.

There’s also evidence that EGCG can facilitate enhanced thermogenesis (which is a natural function of the body to produce heat by using caloric energy as fuel).

In addition to that, EGCG usually is served in concert with caffeine and multiple studies indicate that caffeine enhances EGCG’s weight loss effects.  

3 - Can Help to Keep the Brain and Heart Healthy: 

If I was going to focus on two organs to try and protect for a long, long time, these are the two that I’d do my best to protect.

And adding copious amounts of EGCG into my diet would certainly be a part of that process. 

There are quite a few collected studies that show it’s an all-star for heart health:

Here’s why.

Some studies show that EGCG inside of a mystery drink (kidding, I’m going to talk about it in a second) could reduce blood pressure, cholesterol, as well as preventing the accumulation of plaque in blood vessels which I’m sure you know could all contribute to heart disease

And when 33 people studied for 8 weeks drank the same drink and consumed 250 mg of EGCG it resulted in their levels of LDL cholesterol going down by 4.5%.

And Dr. Axe had this to say about how it improved brain health:

“Some studies have found that catechins (like EGCG) can help reverse neural damage and prevent further neural death, decreasing declines in cognitive function as people age.

A number of large studies have found that adults who consume two to three cups of green tea daily for at least several years experience reduced prevalence of cognitive impairment, such a 30 percent to 40 percent lower risk of developing Parkinson’s.

In addition to suppressing cognitive dysfunction, EGCG may help increase learning ability by reducing oxidative damage in the brain.”

As you can see, it’s a well-equipped compound for improving health:

The Best Places to Get EGCG

As mentioned above, EGCG is the most abundant catechin in teas.

Thus, consuming certain kinds of tea is the preferred way to boost your EGCG levels.

If you want to have stellar EGCG intake here’s what I recommend.

Drink Tea: Starting with green, then white, then black, then oolong.

Eat Fruits: Blackberries, avocados, strawberries, cranberries, apples, kiwis, pears, cherries, and peaches.

Go Nuts: Eat pistachios, pecans, and hazelnuts.

Oh, and you can supplement with it too if you’d like.

We don’t sell one, but I’d recommend anything by NOW or Life Extension if you’re looking for brands to turn to.