Top 7 Benefits Of Green Tea For Arthritis (+3 Extra)
Most of use enjoy drinking green tea – whether it’s for its taste, pleasure or medicinal effect.
But is green tea good for the joint? Can it help the pain (even a bit)?
Well – the answer is YES, IT CAN.
How exactly? Here are the top 7 benefits of green tea for arthritis.
What You Will Find In This Article
I will divide the following lines in 3 main chapters:
A. Green Tea VS Regular Tea
First of all – green tea isn’t the tea all of us drink often.
What do I mean by this? Here’s the thing:
- Green tea comes from a plant called Camellia Sinensis. [1]
- It’s also not fermented or processed.
- Regular tea can be made from almost any plant/herb.
- It tends to be less natural than green tea.
Obviously – their effects are totally different, depending on their compounds.
However, compared to normal tea – green tea is a lot more powerful.
And that’s because of what it contains:
- catechins
- polyphenols (high concentration)
- theobromine
- caffeine (low dose)
So basically – it’s mostly the polyphenols that are responsible for green tea’s benefits.
B. Benefits Of Green Tea In Arthritis
As you could see, there are lots of useful substances in this herb.
Now – how exactly it can help arthritis?
If you check out other herbal guides, you won’t see it among the best herbs for arthritis.
Well – here are 7 ways it can help your joints.
#1 – Prevents Cartilage Damage
Green tea is rich in a group of substances called catechins.
Out of this group – there is one compound with a very strong effect.
It’s called Epigallocatechin gallate or simply EGCG:
- Has a chondroprotective effect in studies. [2]
- Prevents cartilage damage.
- Controls consequent inflammation.
- Also prevents bone loss.
Basically – drinking green tea in your mid ages can keep you free from arthritis (as you get older).
Is it worth trying then? Definitely, if you ask me.
When It Helps: If you have osteoarthritis or you’re trying to prevent it.
OA is caused by cartilage damage – which is exactly what green tea can prevent.
So it’s a very useful natural treatment for OA (especially for prevention).
#2 – Controls Inflammation
Catechins can prevent cartilage damage – but that’s not all.
The same EGCG has another major benefit. But this time – it’s about inflammation:
- Blocks inflammatory signals.
- Reduces consequent swelling. [3]
- Also keeps the pain under control.
Now – inflammation is one of the main causes of arthritis.
When it comes to auto-immune forms (like RA or PsA), it’s always the #1 cause behind.
So consuming organic green tea could lower the swelling from your joints considerably.
- Obviously – nothing will happen overnight
- But on the long term, you might see amazing effects
When It Helps: If you’re dealing with inflammatory forms of arthritis.
Rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis are the most common – but there’s also regular joint pain caused by inflammation.
In those cases, green tea can really help as an additional remedy.
#3 – Fights Oxidative Stress
If there’s something famous about green tea – it’s surely its antioxidant nature.
- Reduces the number of free radicals.
- Fights against oxidative stress.
- Prevents aging.
- Prevents cartilage tear and damage.
Now – arthritis has many causes and risk factors behind.
However, one of the most important is oxidative stress:
- it’s a natural process happening in the human body
- leads to aging
- causes arthritis and inflammation when growing older
Basically – oxidative stress is normal, because it’s what makes us grow older.
Wrinkles are one of its consequences. And so is joint weakness.
However – green tea is rich in antioxidants, which can decrease oxidative stress.
In other words, it can decrease aging and associated conditions (like arthritis).
When It Helps: In preventing arthritis or aging consequences.
#4 – Eases Chronic Pain
Green tea seems to be helpful even if you don’t have arthritis.
Your joints can hurt without having arthritis – I can guarantee for that.
Most of the times, there’s a minor inflammation or a temporary problem.
In this case, green tea can control your pain:
- Lowers existent swelling.
- Decreases the pain (even if it’s chronic).
- Helps the joints loosen up.
- Increases the blood flow around the joints.
However, green tea is a herbal remedy – not a real treatment.
So your pain won’t go away instantly, not even in 1-2 days.
You need to consume it for several weeks – and even then, it’s not 100% sure your pain would go away.
For faster results, prescribed drugs are the best. Supplements can also make miracles (if you prefer the natural way).
When It Helps: If you have chronic joint pain – caused or not caused by arthritis.
It’s not a miracle remedy, but it can help some people.
#5 – Anti-Microbial Action
Green tea also seems to have anti-infectious proprieties.
Now – how exactly does this help arthritis? Here’s the thing:
- Some people have auto-immune forms of arthritis (like RA).
- Medical treatment usually weakens their immunity.
- For this reason, they have infections quite often. [4]
- Green tea can fight harmful bacteria.
- It also strengthens their immune system.
So basically – green tea can prevent further infections or secondary problems.
But you don’t have to have RA to use it.
As it’s an anti-microbial agent, it can help even healthy people and keep them protected.
When It Helps: Against viruses or infections in auto-immune arthritis.
Also – it can protect healthy people against microbes.
#6 – Boosts Immunity
Besides fighting bacteria, green tea also seems to be good for immunity.
Now – here’s what you might think:
If a person has RA, why would he/she need an immunity booster?
It simple – because that’s persons’s immunity is much weaker compared to a normal person.
So how could green tea help?:
- Improve immune functions overall.
- Fight bad bacteria and viruses.
- Protect against further infections.
Besides – green tea is a natural substance, so it couldn’t possibly cause any harm.
When It Helps?: If you have a weakened immunity – due to RA, PsA or other auto-immune conditions.
#7 – Stress Reliever
Some arthritis patients were recommended to drink green tea daily for several months.
Here’s what some of them reported:
- Pain relief and decrease of swelling
- Better flexibility
- Less infections
- Better general condition
However – there were enough who said they felt no change (in terms of relief).
But interesting enough, they claimed green tea made them feel a lot better:
- would fall asleep much easier
- feel more relaxed overall
- daily stress decreased a lot
Now – you might think it’s a myth. But green tea really has stress relieving proprieties.
People with arthritis tend to be more stress in general – due to their constant pain.
For this reason, using green tea can really help.
When It Helps: You feel extremely stressed, sleep very badly and have no energy – whether it’s because of your arthritis or not.
C. 3 Extra Benefits
Now – besides those 7 benefits, green tea can also be useful for some smaller issues.
Here are 3 extra situations you can use it for:
1. Lowers Blood Sugar
Here’s what a 2004 study showed:
- green tea has an anti-diabetic effect [5]
- decreases glucose levels
Now – the study was conducted on mice, but the results should be the same in human.
Obviously – green tea isn’t a real diabetes treatment, but it can still help.
Besides, it’s also effective against processed sugars.
2. Increases Energy
Green tea also contains caffeine and theobromine:
- boost energy levels
- relieve stress
- improve overall health
However – it contains a much lower quantity of caffeine than coffee.
So it keeps you on the safe side.
3. Helps Gout
Besides boosting energy and lowering glucose, green tea is also a diuretic:
- promotes water elimination
- also decreases uric acid
These effects are extremely helpful in gout, which is another form of arthritis.
My Verdict – Is Green Tea Good For Arthritis?
Short answer: Definitely.
Even though it’s not the best remedy ever – it has some real benefits:
- Decreases inflammation and pain.
- Reduces oxidative stress.
- Protects against cartilage damage.
- Increases immunity.
- Relieves stress.
Now – I would personally advise you to add green tea to your diet, but only as a drink.
There are green tea supplements, but I wouldn’t recommend them:
- their effect in arthritis isn’t very strong
- too expensive for what they can do
Instead – my top recommendation are turmeric supplements:
- best effect in arthritis out of all herbs
- relieve inflammation really well
- decrease pain very fast
- pretty cheap
So if you suffer from arthritis and you’re looking for a herbal remedy – here’s what I advice you:
- Start drinking green tea daily (for several weeks)
- Get a quality supplement based on turmeric.
- Make sure you’re constant and take both daily.
- Continue to take your prescribed treatment.
In this way – your arthritis can improve a lot on the long term.
1 – https://www.medicinenet.com/-green_tea_camellia_sinensis-oral/article.htm
2 – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/-pubmed/25516005
3 – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/-pmc/articles/PMC2888220/
