Green tea, loaded with antioxidants called catechins may promote weight loss by boosting metabolism and oxidizing fat and may be especially helpful in reducing belly fat. Green tea contains caffeine, a stimulant that also assists weight loss but produces unwanted side effects in some. You can drink decaffeinated green tea instead, but some catechins will be lost in the process.
Home Brewing Best
You will get the greatest benefits from green tea if you brew it yourself from loose leaves. Brewed in hot---but not boiling---water, green tea contains 127 mg of catechins and 25 mg of caffeine. Decaffeinated green tea contains about half as many catechins. Adding flavor to green tea or bottling it further reduces its metabolism-boosting catechin content. A commercial-brand of bottled green tea, for instance, contains only 12 mg of catechins. Among green tea bags, you'll find the highest amount of catechins in organic brands.
Animal Study
Fat mice lost weight and healthy-weight mice remained slim when their diets include green tea extract, according to a study by M. Bose and other researchers at Rutgers University. Although the mice ate high-fat diets---60 percent of their calories came from fat---the catechins in green tea produced slimming results, according to Bose's study, published in 2008 in the "Journal of Nutrition."
Green Tea and Abdominal Fat
In a study conducted by Kevin Maki, participants who drank green tea lost significantly more abdominal weight than those who drank black tea. The green tea contained about 660 mg of catechins and the black tea 22 mg. The green tea drinkers lost more weight overall---5.4 lbs. compared to 2.9 lbs. All participants followed calorie-restricted diets so only a portion of the reported weight loss could be attributed to catechins, according to Maki's report in 2009 in the "Journal of Nutrition."
Weight Maintenance
Green tea can also help you maintain weight loss, according to a study conducted in the Netherlands. R. Hursel and other researchers at Maastricht University found that green tea helped formerly overweight people keep off pounds they'd shed through dieting. According to Hursel's report, published in the "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition" in April 2009, green tea oxidized fat and sped metabolism in participants. Green tea created themogenesis, a process in which your body's internal body temperature is elevated and you burn additional calories as your body works to cool itself.
Additional Considerations
Studies linking green tea to weight loss generally cite green tea consumption of three or more cups a day. But it may be possible to lose abdominal fat without losing weight by drinking green tea. CAA Industries, a manufacturer of green tea supplements, also cites a "failed" experiment in which participants who consumed 150 mg of green tea catechins daily did not lose weight. They did, however, lose abdominal fat.
References
- USDA: Brewing Up the Latest Tea Research
- "Drug Week"; Research From Maastricht University Update Knowledge of Obesity; April 10, 2009
- "Journal of Nutrition"; Green Tea Catechin Consumption Enhances Exercise-Induced Abdominal Fat Loss in Overweight and Obese Adults; K.C. Maki; January 2009
- "Drug Week"; Scientists at Rutgers Publish New Data on Obesity; Oct. 17, 2008
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