Green tea is a complex mixture of chemicals, a number of which may have antioxidant properties. Of the antioxidants in tea, the catechin group of flavonoids has been identified as the likely cause of its high antioxidant capacity. For example, in one study1, researchers investigated the catechin content of a number of teas and found variation that ranged from 21.2 to 103.2 mg/g in regular teas, and from 4.6 to 39.0 mg/g for decaffeinated teas. In addition the researchers also investigated the antioxidant capacity of the teas and found that this varied from 728 to 1686 trolox equivalents per gram in regular teas, and from 507 to 845 trolox equivalents per gram in decaffeinated teas. There was a significant correlation between the catechin content of the tea and the antioxidant capacity, suggesting that catechins are primarily responsible for providing this effect. Decaffeinated tea may show less health effects that regular tea due to the lower catechin and therefore antioxidant capacity it possesses.
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