Tea To Help You Lose Weight

Tea trails behind water at a close second as the most consumed beverage in the world. With 5,000 years of custom behind it, tea is a healthful alternative to beverages such as coffee or soda. Tea has been praised for its medicinal properties and lauded as an effective weight loss tool. The zero-calorie factor certainly boosts tea's weight loss credentials and the caffeine in many teas is a stimulant that increases metabolic activity.

Types of Tea

Teas are divided into two categories: herbal and non-herbal. Herbal teas are made from the roots, stems, flowers, leaves, seeds, berries and peels of different plants, and do not actually contain tea leaves. Unlike non-herbal teas, herbal teas are typically caffeine-free and are sometimes consumed for their detoxifying and cleansing properties.
All the varieties of classic teas--green, oolong and black--are processed from the plant Camellia sinensis. They vary only in their degree of fermentation, or how long they are exposed to air. Green tea undergoes the shortest period of fermentation, black tea the longest, and oolong tea falls somewhere in the middle.

Tea and Weight Loss

Non-herbal tea is rich in polyphenols, which are powerful antioxidants that constitute 30 percent of tea's dry weight. Polyphenols are believed to perform an important function in the suspected health benefits of tea. Researchers speculate that the polyphenol compound epigallocatechin gallate, or EGCG, found in tea might increase calorie-burning efficacy and fat oxidation rates, and help reduce appetite.

Green Tea and Weight Loss

Green tea remains at the forefront of weight loss teas. Of the three classic non-herbal teas, green tea contains the highest degree of polyphenols. Some studies suggest that green tea can increase metabolic and fat oxidation rates in humans. A study conducted by Swiss researchers and published in the "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition" in 1999 found that the thermogenic characteristics of green tea stimulated fat oxidation and increased the metabolic rate of participants by 4 percent.
In 2000, researchers at the University of Chicago Tang Center for Herbal Medicine Research studied the effects of the green tea derivative EGCG on appetite suppression. Results indicate that rats injected with EGCG ate 60 percent less food each day. Head researcher Shutsung Liao, director of the Tang Center and professor in the Ben May Department for Cancer Research, makes an important distinction between EGCG administered as an injectable and EGCG taken orally. Liao says, ""A person would have to drink green tea almost constantly to obtain these results, 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."
The Mayo Clinic concurs with Liao's recommendation for more research, claiming research on green tea's ability to aid in weight loss is limited and inconclusive, and further evidence is needed.

Oolong Tea and Weight Loss

Oolong tea has been studied alongside green tea as an effective weight loss tea. It is an option for those sensitive to caffeine as it contains half the caffeine that green tea does. It might even have more impact on the metabolism. A 2003 study conducted by researchers at the University of Tokushima found that oolong tea increased metabolic rate by 10 percent while green tea increased metabolic rate by 4 percent.
In a 2003 study backed by the USDA Agricultural Research Service, physiologist William Rumpler measured the effectiveness of oolong tea in controlling weight loss. The study showed that participants who drank full strength oolong tea had a 3 percent higher energy expenditure level and burned an average of 67 more calories a day than those who drank caffeinated water. Fat oxidation rates in volunteers who drank the tea were 12 percent higher than those who consumed the caffeinated water, which led researchers to conclude that something other than caffeine is responsible for raising fat oxidation rates. Researchers again point to EGCG as the polyphenol responsible for increased metabolic and fat oxidation rates, and speculate that perhaps it is the combination of EGCG with caffeine that is producing such results.

Herbal Teas

There are many slimming teas on the market, such as Chinese diet tea, that purport to encourage weight loss. These teas are actually laxatives, not weight loss aids. Care needs to be taken when consuming laxative-based teas as they can cause diarrhea, severe cramping, nauseua, vomiting and fainting. The FDA advises against consuming laxative teas that contain aloe, senna, rhubarb root, buckthorn, castor oil and cascara. Drink a cup of chamomile or peppermint tea to aid in digestion instead. A zero-calorie beverage such as a cup of green or oolong tea may not promise dramatic weight loss, but will support a healthy lifestyle habit.