Tea Catechins Rich Food and Beverages
What USDA Study Say?

The most important group of chemicals in green tea is catechins. Also known as flavan-3-ols, catechins are a simple form of flavonoid. According to scientist Graham Harold, dried tea extract can contain 30% to 40% of catechins. 

A 2007 report published by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) compares nearly 400 foods for their flavonoids content.

Top of the list is green tea. 100 millimetres of brewed regular green tea contains 127 milligrams. No other food even comes close.

Brewed oolong tea has 50 milligrams.

Brewed black tea has 28 milligrams.

Table red wine has 11 milligrams.

Unsweetened apple juice from the bottle or can has only 6 milligrams.

So green tea has the most tea catechins. But not all types of green tea is equally healthy.

The USDA study shows why a regular green tea is the healthiest. It seems that the longer green tea has been processed, the more nutrients it loses.

Regular green tea contains 127 milligrams.

Decaffeinated green tea contains only 56 milligrams, less than half of the catechins found in a regular tea.

Flavored green tea has 43 milligrams.

Disappointingly, instant or bottled green tea has only 12 milligrams.

Here are the foods rich in catechins.

Top of the list is dark chocolate. 100 grams of dark chocolate from Netherlands contains 54 milligrams of catechins. Hooray!

The same benefit does not apply to milk chocolate – it contains only 8 milligrams.

Blueberry has 52 milligrams.

Blackberry has 42 milligrams.

Interestingly, the study shows that the best part of apple is in the skin. It has 36 milligrams.

Black plum has 33 milligrams.

Black grape has 22 milligrams. White grape has none.

US Department of Agriculture. USDA Database for the Flavanoid Content of Selected Foods Release 2.1. http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/Data/Flav/Flav02-1.pdf

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