Green Tea And Weight Loss

The Green Tea Debate - Are Green Tea And Weight Loss Supplements Containing Green Tea Worth It?

More and more, green tea and weight loss is gaining respectability amongst mainstream western countries. Green tea is sold in most supermarkets and extracts of the green tea can be found in some weight loss supplements - but can it burn fat ?

The Background On Green Tea And Weight Loss

If you haven't been following the green tea story, a 1999 study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (AJCN) found that green tea extract was associated with a 4% increase in the amount of calories the body burns.[1]

Nutritionists quickly put this result into perspective and maintained that in real terms this 4% increase would mean it would take you over three months to lose just two pounds - not very thrilling.

Green Tea Can Burn Fat

We know that green tea can play a role in fat burning, thermogenesis and body fat loss.

A 2005 study published in the AJCN found that men who drank oolong tea fortified with green tea extract over three months lost more weight than those who drank just oolong tea. The men who received the green tea also reduced their BMI, waist sizes and total body fat. Researchers also observed a beneficial effect on fat deposits that lay just below the skin.[2]

I have to admit that when I read this research, I got up and made myself a cup of lemon green tea.

What To Expect If You Want To Try Green Tea.

Green tea is a relatively safe supplement to take, this is what you might expect if you want to try taking it in moderate quantities.

• The effect of green tea may wear off after continual consumption and you might find yourself having to drink more or take more of the supplement to get the same effect.[7]
• Weight maintenance effects of green tea may only occur for people who don't consume a lot of caffeine in their diets already.[6]

What To Look For When Buying Green Tea and Weight Loss Supplements Containing Green Tea.

• Choose a green tea supplement with standardized levels of catechin.
• If you want to drink green tea, you might need to drink at least 4 cups per day to get any effect.[8]
• You need to steep the tea for at least 5 minutes to allow the anti-oxidants to infuse.
• Don't treat green tea as a magic weight loss solution. Some research has found that as soon as you stop consuming the EGCG (active ingredient in green tea), the lost body weight returns.[7]

The Negatives About Green Tea And Weight Loss

A leading researcher into green tea's beneficial effects offers this caution.

"A person would have to drink green tea almost constantly to obtain these results," said Liao. "And since some of the hormonal changes we saw in the rats could have negative effects, especially in younger people, I don't recommend drinking large quantities of green tea for everybody. Much more research needs to be done," cautioned Liao."[9]

Green tea has been favored because it is natural and many feel that because of this, it is safe to use. Generally green tea is safe when consumed in moderate quantities. However, excessive consumption can lead to excessive ingestion of fluoride and those at risk of dental fluorosis should decrease green tea consumption.

There are still gaping holes in our knowledge of green tea and weight loss especially in the long term effects of consumption, how green tea works and how much you need to take for it to be effective.

Research results into green tea and weight loss also differ in their conclusions about whether green tea does have an effect on actual weight loss.

At the moment because of these conflicting results, green tea is generally not recommended to burn fat.

Research results published this year have found that green tea capsules did not reduce body weight in obese women with polycystic ovary syndrome[4] but more favorably, EGCG (active ingredient in green tea) can alter the body's insulin secretion.[5]

Research performed with Zucker diabetic rats found that the active ingredient in green tea (epigallocatechin gallate or EGCG) had no statistically significant effect on weight gain in the rats.[3]

Green tea is complex in the way that it interacts chemically in the body and not all research results based on rats and mice will apply to human studies.

Proven Methods Of Losing Weight

So, even though green tea may have some fat burning properties, drinking green tea is still not a proven way to lose weight.

There are however proven methods that you can use to lose weight and they don't require you to eat or drink excessive amounts of anything.

Losing weight, getting rid of body fat, while also maintaining muscle can be achieved through restricting your caloric intake and combining this with exercise.

If you just reduce your calories, most likely this will lead to a loss of muscle tissue. Protein is constantly being turned over in your body and because of the caloric restriction will eventually be turned into glucose for use as energy by the body.

However, if you just exercise without reducing the calories you are eating, there will not be much affect because it is easier to eat 100 calories than it is to burn 100 calories. If you eat a lot of calories then you are going to have to exercise a lot to burn the calories you've eaten.

So the answer is to cut your calories and to exercise. If you cut your calories you are making it easier for your body to burn more calories than you are eating. If you exercise as well, you are stimulating muscle development which helps to maintain muscle mass. This obviously then results in increases in metabolism and flows on to fat loss.[10]

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Sources

[1] Dulloo AG, Duret C, Rohrer D, Girardier L, Mensi N, Fathi M, Chantre P, Vandermander J. Efficacy of a green tea extract rich in catechin polyphenols and caffeine in increasing 24-h energy expenditure and fat oxidation in humans. Am J Clin Nutr. 1999 Dec;70(6):1040-5.

[2] Tomonori Nagao, Yumiko Komine, Satoko Soga, Shinichi Meguro, Tadashi Hase, Yukitaka Tanaka and Ichiro Tokimitsu Ingestion of a tea rich in catechins leads to a reduction in body fat and malondialdehyde-modified LDL in men. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 81, No. 1, 122-129, January 2005.

[3] Janle EM, Portocarrero C, Zhu Y, Zhou Q. Effect of Long-Term Oral Administration of Green Tea Extract on Weight Gain and Glucose Tolerance in Zucker Diabetic (ZDF) Rats. J Herb Pharmacother. 2005;5(3):55-65.

[4] Chan CC, Koo MW, Ng EH, Tang OS, Yeung WS, Ho PC. Effects of Chinese green tea on weight, and hormonal and biochemical profiles in obese patients with polycystic ovary syndrome--a randomized placebo-controlled trial. J Soc Gynecol Investig. 2006 Jan;13(1):63-8.

[5] Li C, Allen A, Kwagh J, Doliba NM, Qin W, Najafi H, Collins HW, Matschinsky FM, Stanley CA, Smith TJ. Green tea polyphenols modulate insulin secretion by inhibiting glutamate dehydrogenase. J Biol Chem. 2006 Apr 14;281(15):10214-21. Epub 2006 Feb 13.

[6] Westerterp-Plantenga MS, Lejeune MP, Kovacs EM. Body weight loss and weight maintenance in relation to habitual caffeine intake and green tea supplementation. Obes Res. 2005 Jul;13(7):1195-204.

[7] Yung-hsi Kao, Richard A Hiipakka and Shutsung Liao Modulation of obesity by a green tea catechin Letter to Editor American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 72, No. 5, 1232-1233, November 2000.

[8] Warner, J. Green Tea Fights Fat WebMD

[9] Green Tea Lovers Green Tea Derivative Causes Loss of Appetite, Weight Loss in Rats Green Tea Health Diet & Weight loss

[10] Wahlqvist, M. (2002) Food and Nutrition Allen & Unwin p. 324.

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