Green tea

Green tea is used for mental alertness and weight loss since it contains caffeine. May cause frequent urination and difficulty sleeping.

Green tea Overview

Reviewed: June 19, 2014
Updated: 

Green tea comes from a plant.

Green tea is used most often to prevent and treat a variety of cancers, including breast, stomach, and skin cancers.

Green tea can be used for mental alertness, weight loss, lowering cholesterol levels, and protecting skin from sun damage.

Since green tea contains caffeine, common side effects of green tea include:

  • insomnia
  • anxiety
  • irritability
  • upset stomach
  • nausea
  • diarrhea
  • frequent urination

Green tea Cautionary Labels

Back to Top
precautions

Uses

Back to Top

Green tea is used most often to prevent and treat a variety of cancers, including breast, stomach, and skin cancers.

Green tea can be used for mental alertness, weight loss, lowering cholesterol levels, and protecting skin from sun damage.

Green tea may be used for other conditions. Ask your doctor or pharmacist for more information.

Side Effects of Green tea

Back to Top

Green tea and green tea extracts contain caffeine.

Caffeine can cause:

  • insomnia
  • anxiety
  • irritability
  • upset stomach
  • nausea
  • diarrhea
  • frequent urination

This is not a complete list of green tea side effects. Ask your doctor or pharmacist for more information.

Tell your doctor if you have any side effect that bothers you or that does not go away.

Green tea Interactions

Back to Top

Tell your doctor about all the medicines you take, including prescription and non-prescription medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements. Especially tell your doctor if you take:

  • warfarin (Coumadin, Jantoven)

This is not a complete list of green tea drug interactions. Ask your doctor or pharmacist for more information.

Green tea Precautions

Back to Top

Special precautions & warnings:

There have been some case reports of liver problems in people taking concentrated green tea extracts.

  • The problems do not seem to be connected with green tea infusions or beverages.

Although these cases are very rare and the evidence is not definitive, experts suggest that concentrated green tea extracts be taken with food, and that people discontinue use and consult a health care practitioner if they have a liver disorder or develop symptoms of liver trouble, such as abdominal pain, dark urine, or jaundice.