Most of us know that one of the leading contributors to heart disease is high cholesterol. And, we've all been told to limit our saturated fats to help lower our cholesterol levels. But, what you may not realize is that simply drinking green tea you can help reduce the effects of the cholesterol in your diet, and reduce your risk of heart disease, too.

Cholesterol comes in two forms. HDL cholesterol or (high density lipoproteins) is what we refer to as “good cholesterol”. HDL cholesterol carries bad cholesterol away from the heart and deposits it to the liver where it passes out of the body.

HDL cholesterol protects you from hear disease, so we want this cholesterol level to be high. You can raise your level of HDL cholesterol by using good fats like olive oil and nuts in your diet in place of saturated fats.

LDL cholesterol (low density lipoproteins) is “bad cholesterol”. This cholesterol circulates in the blood. When too much of it is present, it oxidizes, becoming hard. Then it sticks to the walls of your arteries.

This is what is known as arterial plaque. This is very dangerous because it constricts these arteries, restricting blood flow. Narrow arteries are more susceptible to blockage, particularly from a blood clot.

One particularly interesting study was conducted to evaluate the benefits of drinking green tea to cardiovascular health, particularly related to the reduction of LDL cholesterol.

This study evaluated 12 healthy men, who ranged between 28-42 years of age. Each participant drank 600 ml of green tea every day for four weeks. Their blood was taken before the test began, two weeks into the test and again at the end of the four weeks.

Several measures of the blood were taken. Overall LDL levels were measured, along with the oxidation activity of this LDL cholesterol. The anti-oxidant activity and the levels of cell adhesion were also measured.

The study showed that drinking green tea did not lower overall cholesterol levels in the blood, nor did it show an increased level of anti-oxidant activity. However, it did show a significant decrease in the amount of LDL cholesterol that was becoming oxidized, and a lower level of LDL adhesion to the body's cells.

This represents important information for those trying to prevent heart disease. While drinking green tea doesn't rid your body of the bad cholesterol, it does seem to prevent it from oxidizing and turning into plaque. Without the oxidation process, the cholesterol doesn't harden and stick to the arterial walls, causing constriction.

We know that the danger of LDL cholesterol is in the fact that it hardens into plaque and narrows the walls of our arteries. If we can prevent this process, we eliminate the danger that LDL cholesterol brings to our health.

While we're not certain why green tea has this effect, we suspect that it's related to green tea's high level of anti-oxidants. Anti-oxidants are known to fight free radicals that are created in the body as a by-product of our digestive process.

Free radicals also go through an oxidation process as part of doing damage to the body, so we know that anti-oxidants have the power to interrupt the oxidation process of free radicals. Therefore, it stands to reason that the anti-oxidants in green tea are the reason that it is able to interrupt the oxidation process of LDL cholesterol, too.

It's certain that we need to do more research on this subject. It's also certain that research of this sort on humans will take years to complete in such a way that we have irrefutable conclusions. Most of the research that has been performed to date has been on laboratory animals, with only a few tests on humans. And, conclusive human studies will take years to perform, if we wish to have an understanding of the long term effects.

In the meantime, however, drinking green tea has no downside. Green tea is refreshing and healthy. And, while it does contain caffeine, the caffeine content is significantly lower than that of coffee and black tea, so it is usually well tolerated, even by those who are caffeine sensitive.

There are many ways to enjoy green tea. Brew if for drinking hot, or chill for a refreshing cold drink. There are green tea supplements you can take, and there are even recipes containing green tea so that you can put it in your favorite foods.

As time goes on, it's highly likely that we will discover more and more benefits of drinking green tea. The research that has already been conducted has shown that green tea may have many potential benefits, including preventing many forms of cancer, Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease in addition to heart disease. However, while we're waiting for those results, there's no harm in getting a head start on your health!