Green Tea Weight Loss

Could green tea facilitate weight loss?  Yes, according to a meta-analysis on human studies.

Green tea has many health benefits. It reduces cholesterol, improves insulin sensitivity improving management of type 2 diabetes, reduces Alzheimer’s risk, and possess anti-cancer effects.

Now more and more studies are showing that consumption of green tea or its extracts may assist with weight loss though in some studies weight loss was not statistically significant.  Green tea has been shown to promote weight loss in animal studies.

There have been few studies in humans investigating green tea’s effect on weight loss, but results suggest that green tea might promote weight loss in humans, too.

Weight Loss from Green Tea

How much weight loss is possible with green tea and how much green tea is necessary for weight loss to occur? Nearly 3 pounds of weight loss can be expected over 12 weeks. This is about 100 calories extra burned a day. To get these results requires drinking two to three cups of green tea daily.

Green tea is produced from the plant Camellia sinensis, and next to water, green tea is the second most consumed drink in the world.  Some of green tea’s health benefits have been known for centuries.

Green tea contains powerful antioxidants called polyphenols and flavanols, which help fight inflammation and cancer.  The polyphenols in green tea are called catechins, and the most powerful catechin in green tea is called epigallocatechin gallate or EGCG.

Green Tea Weight Loss

Green tea improves body composition through several mechanisms.  It inhibits fat cell growth, decreases body fat, and inhibits absorption of fats.  EGCG appears to play a role in these mechanisms.   EGCG also regulates the genes involved in insulin and glucose metabolism.  Green tea lowers lower blood levels of insulin and glucose, which contributes to weight gain, but a study in humans in Nutrition Journal published in 2010 showed no glucose or insulin lowering effect of green tea, but green tea did provide increased satiety and fullness.

Green tea is a good source for the B vitamins, folate, and magnesium.

Boosting Metabolism with Green Tea

Green tea stimulates metabolism, which leads to weight loss.  It does this by virtue of the fact that green tea contains caffeine, which acts synergistically with EGCG.  EGCG inhibits catechol-O-methyltransferase.   Catechol-O-methyltransferase breaks down norepinephrine.  Norepinephrine increases metabolism.  By inhibiting catechol-O-transferase norepinephrine is not broken down with green tea consumption, thus increasing the metabolic rate.  See “Natural Metabolism Boosters“.

Green Tea: Cutting the Fat Out

Green tea slows down and limits absorption of fats from the meals and increases the amount of fat that is excreted in feces by regulating enzymes related to fat absorption.

Green Tea and Energy

Energy capacity increased substantially in laboratory mice fed green tea extracts.  Mice fed green tea extract ran 30% longer than the controlled mice.  In a human study, men given EGCG and caffeine increased their energy expenditure over 24 hours by 4% and burned 79 additional calories per day than those not supplemented with EGCG and caffeine.  Another study in humans revealed that men supplemented with green tea extract for 3 months experienced a 4.6% decrease in body weight and a 4.5% decrease in waist size.

How Much Green Tea to Consume?

Most studies showing health benefits of green tea involved drinking three to six cups of tea a day but two to three cups is enough for weight loss. .   Taking a green tea extract of 500 mg/day is equivalent to consuming 5 or 6 cups of green tea per day.  Since drinking that amount of tea is not customary for Americans, taking an extract may be the most convenient way to obtain the potential health benefits of green tea.  Green tea extracts of 500 mg/day or less appear to be safe.

See related articles.

“Stop Weight Gain with Green Tea”

“Impressive Results from this Weight Loss Product”

“Combat Cancer with Curcumin”