Drinking Green Tea May Help You Lose Weight

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———— Drinking Green Tea May Help You Lose Weight

Title

—– Drinking Green Tea May Help You Lose Weight

Green Tea Also Has Anticancer Properties

—————————————- Green tea, which has
been reported to have anticancer properties and to raise levels
of antioxidants in the blood that may ward off heart disease,
now appears to have the potential to promote weight loss. A new
study in the March issue of the International Journal of Obesity
concludes that green tea extract increases the burning of
calories and fat needed to lose weight. Green Tea In Liquid Or
Capsule May Aid In Weight Loss

————————————————— Previous
animal studies showed that green tea extract increased
thermogenesis, which is the generation of body heat that occurs
as a result of normal digestion, absorption, and metabolization
of food. In previous human studies, the authors showed that
consumption of green tea increased thermogenesis as well as
energy expenditure and fat loss in healthy men, suggesting that
green tea in liquid or capsule form may be an effective way to
aid weight loss.

In the new study, conducted by Abdul Dulloo, from the Institute
of Physiology at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland,
researchers exposed a particular type of fatty tissue from rats
to caffeine and to green tea extract containing small
concentrations of caffeine.

Green Tea Containing Caffeine Can Raise Metabolism

—————————————– Green tea containing
caffeine significantly increased thermogenesis by 28% to 77%,
depending on dose, whereas caffeine alone resulted in no
significant increase. When the stimulant ephedrine was added to
green tea with caffeine, the increase was even more significant
compared with caffeine alone and ephedrine alone. Caffeine and
ephedrine are used together in some herbal weight loss
preparations, but there are many safety concerns regarding
ephedrine because it raises heart rate and blood pressure.

Dulloo and colleagues also tested the plant compound EGCG found
in green tea. They found that the stimulant ephedrine alone had
no effect on thermogenesis, but that caffeine plus ephedrine
resulted in an 84% increase. However, adding EGCG to the
caffeine plus ephedrine mix increased thermogenesis even
further.

“Our studies … raise the possibility that the therapeutic
potential of the green tea extract, or indeed a combination of
EGCG and caffeine, may be extended to the management of
obesity,” Dulloo and co-authors write.

A researcher who reviewed the study for WebMD says that while
the work is interesting and extends this group’s previous
findings by showing that compounds in green tea other than
caffeine are involved in thermogenesis, caution should be used
in interpreting animal data and applying it to humans.

“They used [a particular type of fatty tissue] from rats and we
don’t really know how significant that tissue is in humans or if
it is different in obese vs. non-obese people,” says Sheri
Zidenberg-Cherr, PhD. “It doesn’t rule out the significance of
the findings, and it is a good model to use to look at the
effects of caffeine and the combination of caffeine and the
[plant] compounds that are present in green tea, but until
better clinical trials are done in humans, it’s hard to say what
the physiological significance of this actually may be.”

Zidenberg-Cherr, who is an associate professor of nutrition at
the University of California, Davis, also points out that
thermogenesis plays only a very small role in energy expenditure
in adults. Most of the energy expended is used to maintain basic
body functions such as breathing and the flow of blood
throughout the body.

She says green tea may have many health benefits due to its
plant compounds, but cautions that it is not the answer to
weight-loss woes. “Green tea can’t be used, and it shouldn’t be
used, as a ‘magic bullet’ for weight loss,” she tells WebMD.
“You’ve got to combine it with other changes, including
increasing physical activity and reducing a high-calorie diet.”

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