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Have you ever seen those expensive creams, lotions and serums for
your face that contain green or white tea and wondered, could they
really work for me? Well, research from the Medical College of Georgia
suggests that the antioxidant compound EGCG, found in both green
and white tea, may actually help skin cells rejuvenate. Here’s
the dish on why putting tea on your face might make sense: Your
skin cells are constantly renewing themselves. As cells come to
the surface of your skin, they pretty much hang around waiting to
die. And as you age, that turnover rate slows, leaving your skin
less than fresh and glowing. The researchers in Georgia found that
the EGCG in tea actually brought those dying skin cells back to
life. But, before you run out to stock up on tea-laced cosmetics,
there are a couple of things to point out. First, the research was
done on skin cells in a laboratory, not on real, live faces. And
it was done using concentrated amounts of EGCG, which is only one
of the compounds found in tea. Most skin care products that contain
tea, have only small amounts of tea, or they contain a combination
of all of the antioxidant compounds found in tea, not just EGCG.
Until the final word is in, shop for skin products that contain
the most concentrated amount of tea or tea polyphenols (the chemical
name for the antioxidants in tea) you can afford.
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