Are you stressed? Tired? Drinking three cups of vanilla soy latte a day to get you by? If you answered “yes” to all these questions, then you may want to consider switching from coffee to matcha tea. Matcha tea is comprised of many helpful agents including L-Theanine. It also contains caffeine, albeit less than what you would find in coffee. According to Monobe et al. (2019), L-Theanine, which is not found in coffee, has been seen to be most helpful for lowering stress as well as increasing alertness and concentration. It is also a major component of how we process caffeine. With coffee, you may have immediate effects of caffeine which can often lead to jitters, increased heart rate, or even the post-coffee crash (Bennington, 2018). This may cause additional discomfort and difficulties in focusing. With matcha tea, these effects are counteracted due to L-Theanine as it provides a slower, more long-lasting pathway for caffeine (Monobe et al., 2019). Although containing smaller amounts of caffeine, you can stay alert longer without experiencing the discomfort you would feel with coffee. This combination of L-Theanine and caffeine has deemed itself worthy of providing people with a better, healthier alternative than coffee.
References
Bennington, K. (2018, Dec. 30). L-Theanine & Caffeine: Boost Your Morning Coffee and Never Go Back. https://isum.com/l-theanine-caffeine/
Monobe, M., Nomura, S., Ema, K., & Horie, H. (2019). Influence of continued ingestion of matcha on emotional behaviors after social stress in mice. Bioscience, biotechnology, and biochemistry, 83(11), 2121–2127. https://doi.org/10.1080/09168451.2019.1637713
Wow... Interesting post, Christina! Our group is actually doing our MSBS research project on the effects of caffeine on short-term memory. In our research, we came upon that some studies have found that blocking of adenosine receptors prevent the blockade of norepinephrine. This in turn impacts our memory since norepinephrine is connected with signaling B-1 adrenergic receptors located within the hippocampus, an area associated with learning and memory. Again, this is all data that has been conflicted as well. With this logic, do you think that matcha tea might have more health benefits over memory benefits? So, maybe coffee for students and matcha tea for adults out of school?
ReplyDeleteDaly, J. W., Shi, D., Nikodijevic, O., & Jacobson, K. A. (1994). The role of adenosine receptors in the central action of caffeine. Pharmacopsychoecologia, 7(2), 201–213.
DeleteChristina - your post has me re-thinking my coffee habits... I love the taste, but sometimes I drink too much and get the jitters as you mentioned above. Similar to Sanjana, our MSBS research project relates to caffeine as well. We are trying to uncover the long-term effects of energy drink or pre-workout use (both substances containing caffeine) on heart rate, blood pressure, and BMI. I wonder if matcha would be a preferable alternative to both of these?
ReplyDeleteI was curious about other benefits of matcha and came across a 2018 study which demonstrated that matcha has the ability to mediate metabolic reprogramming of cancer cells. Researchers used a human breast cancer cell line and found that adding matcha to the tissue culture inhibited propagation of breast cancer stem cells. Through other mechanisms, they found that matcha suppresses certain metabolic pathways and has great therapeutic potential (Bonuccelli et al., 2018). It will be interesting to see if matcha can be implemented as a cancer treatment, and/or if it will be advertised for its’ anticarcinogenic properties.
References:
Bonuccelli G, Sotgia F, Lisanti MP. Matcha green tea (MGT) inhibits the propagation of cancer stem cells (CSCs), by targeting mitochondrial metabolism, glycolysis and multiple cell signalling pathways. Aging (Albany NY). 2018 Aug 23;10(8):1867-1883. doi: 10.18632/aging.101483. PMID: 30153655; PMCID: PMC6128439.
I love matcha, so it is interesting to know that it could possibly prevent cancer. Multiple studies have shown that the properties of matcha green tea consist of chemo-preventative effects. For instance, a study revealed a negative correlation between green tea consumption and cancer incidences (Weiss & Anderton, 2003). In another study, an increased matcha consumption was correlated with a decrease concentration of biomarkers for oxidative stress after smoking (Weiss & Anderton, 2003).
DeleteWhile there is a relationship between increased matcha consumption and decreased numbers of cancer, extensive research is required to prove this. Researchers can look into the activity of epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) because this catechin inhibits the tumor necrosis factor-α (Weiss & Anderton, 2003). We have to consider that the amount of catechins are different in different types of green tea (Weiss & Anderton, 2003). Therefore, it is also necessary to test different types of teas, such as the popular beverages and the teas with a larger amount of matcha.
References:
Weiss, D. J., & Anderton, C. R. (2003). Determination of catechins in matcha green tea by micellar electrokinetic chromatography. Journal of Chromatography.A, 1011(1-2), 173-180. Retrieved from http://dml.regis.edu/login?url=https://www-proquest-com.dml.regis.edu/docview/75721317?accountid=28590
ReplyDeleteMy sister and girlfriend are obsessed with any type of green tea so I had to read this. I didn’t know that L-theanine has such a unique effect on the body over coffee. I guess one of the reasons why I go to coffee rather than green tea is because how cheap iced americanos are over green tea. Do you know if L-theanine levels change as the quality of the matcha changes? I know that there are certain matcha that can go for $50+ an ounce. Additionally, I looked into an interesting study that studied 37 different commercial white, green, oolong, black, puh-erh tea, and the data showed that L-theanine content were all around 6.50 mg/g except black tea being 5.13 mg/g (Boros, 2016). That being said, I guess tea is a overall better choice than coffee since most tea have a similar levels of L-theanine. Now I think I’ll be drinking more tea, awesome post!
Reference:
Boros, K., Jedlinszki, N., & Csupor, D. (2016). Theanine and Caffeine Content of Infusions Prepared from Commercial Tea Samples. Pharmacognosy magazine, 12(45), 75–79. https://doi.org/10.4103/0973-1296.176061
I'm sure this post has caught the attention of many of our peers as it did me. I have an extreme coffee addiction and I'm now considering a transition to matcha tea! I've always come across articles talking about matcha as a "brain-and-mood food" but never really given it any thought.
ReplyDeleteThis study looked at the effects of matcha tea powder on mood and cognitive performance. They found "slight effects on speed of attention and episodic secondary memory to a low degree" (Dietz, Dekker, and Piqueras-Fiszman, 2017). Data shows slight improvement on cognitive performance. It be interesting to see long term effects for coffee drinkers verse matcha.
References:
Dietz, C., Dekker, M., & Piqueras-Fiszman, B. (2017). An intervention study on the effect of matcha tea, in drink and snack bar formats, on mood and cognitive performance. Food research international (Ottawa, Ont.), 99(Pt 1), 72–83. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodres.2017.05.002