According to a new study published in Respiratory Medicine, green tea extract may help to offset some of the damaging effects seen in the lungs of a smoker after exposure to cigarette smoke.

Green Tea and Lung Damage From Smoking: The Study Green tea is a type of tea made solely with the leaves of Camellia sinensis that has undergone minimal oxidation during processing. Green tea originates from China and has become associated with many cultures in Asia from Japan to the Middle East.

Two control groups were exposed to air and green tea extract for a period of fifty-six days. A new study shows that green tea may offset some of the damage seen in the lungs of a smoker. Find out why you may want to sip green tea if you’ve ever smoked cigarettes.

The results? The rats exposed to cigarette smoke and green tea extract didn’t develop the type of lung damage that usually occurs with exposure to cigarette smoke. The rats only exposed to cigarette smoke clearly showed lung damage typical of a smoker’s lung.

Recently, it has become more widespread in the West, where black tea is traditionally consumed. Many varieties of green tea have been created in countries where it is grown. These varieties can differ substantially due to variable growing conditions, processing and harvesting time.The rats given green tea also showed fewer markers of oxidative stress than did the mice exposed to cigarette smoke and no green tea extract.

Interstitial lung disease (ILD), also known as diffuse parenchymal lung disease (DPLD),refers to a group of lung diseases affecting the interstitium (the tissue and space around the air sacs of the lungs). It concerns alveolar epithelium, pulmonary capillary endothelium, basement membrane, perivascular and perilymphatic tissues.

Researchers believe that the polyphenols, particularly EGCG, found in green tea may help to offset oxidative damage seen in the lungs of a smoker.

Cigarette smoke contains multiple compounds that can damage healthy lung tissue not to mention many of these compounds are known cancer causing agents. Because EGCG and the other polyphenols in green tea function are antioxidants, they may help to reduce lung damage from smoking.

Can drinking green tea reduce lung damage from smoking? Matcha is a variety of finely-powdered green tea. Matcha Uji means "froth of liquid jade" and the cultural activity called the Japanese tea ceremony centers around the preparation, serving, and drinking of matcha. In modern times, matcha has also come to be used to flavour and dye foods such as mochi and soba noodles, green tea ice cream and a variety of wagashi Japanese confectionery.

Researchers exposed one group of rats to both cigarette smoke and green tea extract and another group to cigarette smoke only. Over the last few decades green tea has been subjected to many scientific and medical studies to determine the extent of its long-purported health benefits, with some evidence suggesting regular green tea drinkers may have lower chances of heart disease and developing certain types of cancer. Green tea has also been claimed as useful for "weight loss management" a claim with no scientific support according to medical databases such as PubMed.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that green tea negates all of the negative effects of smoking. For one thing, this study was done in rats and it’s unclear whether green tea has any effect on the lungs of a human smoker. Secondly, just because green tea extract reduces lung damage from a tissue standpoint, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it reduces the risk of lung disease or cancer.

When it comes to reducing lung damage from smoking, black tea may also have some effect. A study published in the Journal of Nutrition showed that black tea prevented oxidative lung damage in guinea pigs exposed to cigarette smoke.

Black tea has lower levels of polyphenols than green tea, so it would seem that green tea would be of greater overall benefit. Other nutrients that have been associated with a lower risk of lung cancer are lycopenes found in processed tomatoes and lutein found in green vegetables such as leafy greens and broccoli.

In Tang Dynasty China (618-907), tea leaves were steamed and formed into tea bricks for storage and trade. The tea was prepared by roasting and pulverizing the tea, and decocting the resulting tea powder in hot water, adding salt. In the Song Dynasty (960-1279), the method of making powdered tea from steam-prepared dried tea leaves, and preparing the beverage by whipping the tea powder and hot water together in a bowl became popular.Preparation and consumption of powdered tea was formed into a ritual by Zen (Chan) Buddhists. The earliest Chan monastic code in existence, entitled Chanyuan qinggui Rules of Purity for the Chan Monastery, 1103, describes in detail the etiquette for tea ceremonies.

The bottom line? Don’t use green tea as an excuse to keep smoking, but if you have a history of smoking in the past, sipping green tea may have positive benefits. Ex-smokers often have microscopic lung damage from smoking that persist even after they quit although lung cancer risk significantly drops once a person has been smoke-free for ten years.

Getting natural antioxidants from green tea, fruits, and vegetables could help to protect lungs from further damage due to exposure to secondary cigarette smoke and pollutants in the environment. The first priority should be to quit smoking, but even after you do, consider adding green tea to your diet. A bowl of matcha on a black lacquered tray with a traditional sweet Zen Buddhism, and powdered tea along with it, were brought to Japan in 1191 by the monk Eisai.

Powdered tea was slowly forgotten in China, but in Japan it continued to be an important item at Zen monasteries, and became highly appreciated by others in the upper echelons of society during the 14th through 16th centuries. Along with this development, tea plantation owners in Uji perfected techniques for producing excellent tea for matcha.