Whether you drink it by the cup or take it in capsule form, Oriental tea can suppress your appetite, boost your metabolism and burn fat. Tea is a zero-calorie, zero-carbohydrate beverage. In addition to helping you lose weight, tea may protect you against heart disease, stroke and some forms of cancer.
Types of Tea
All real tea, as opposed to herbal drinks such as ginger tea, is grown in the Orient from a single plant -- camellia sinensis -- but the weight-loss benefits of different types vary, depending on how long the tea stayed on the vine before harvesting and how much processing it underwent after it was picked. Black tea, picked last, contains more caffeine and fewer antioxidants than the other teas. White tea, picked before chlorophyll turns it green, contains the most antioxidants and the least caffeine. Green and oolong teas fall in between for both caffeine and antioxidant content.
How Tea Affects Weight Loss
If your main struggle when dieting is dealing with hunger pangs and the lack of energy that comes with sugar withdrawal, black tea may be your best choice. Strong black tea provides as much caffeine as some brews of coffee. But if you want a tea that actually revs your metabolism as effectively as light exercise, then brew yourself a cup of green or white tea. Green tea has proved its fat-burning powers in at least 15 clinical studies, according to the Los Angeles Times. Oolong tea contains an antioxidant that kicks a fat-dissolving enzyme body into high gear, according to the Daily Yomiuri.
Tea Antioxidants and Abdominal Fat
The antioxidants in Oriental tea may help you lose stubborn belly fat. When men drank green tea containing 660 mg of antioxidants called catechins, they reduced their waist sizes significantly when compared to men who drank black tea containing 22 mg of catechins. The green tea drinkers also lost more weight overall, 5.4 lbs. in 12 weeks, than the black tea drinkers, who lost 2.9 lbs. during the same period, according to a study led by United States researcher Kevin Maki and published in the February 2009 issue of "Journal of Nutrition."
Brewing Method Affects Weight-Loss Benefits
You will enjoy the greatest weight-loss benefit from Oriental teas if you brew them yourself from loose leaves. A cup of green tea, for instance, contains 132 mg of antioxidants when steeped from dry leaves, but only half as many if flavored or decaffeinated, according to the United States Department of Agriculture. Some brands of tea bags contain less than 20 percent of the catechins in loose leaves, and bottled tea contains even less. To strive for the results in Maki's study, for example, you would need to drink five cups of green tea from fresh leaves or 55 cups of bottled green tea daily. It is best to brew tea in water that has not reached -- or has been cooled down from -- the boiling point.
Tea Pills
If you don't like the taste of Oriental teas, you can obtain similar benefits by taking it in pill form. Pills containing a least 300 mg of catechins -- at the highest recommended daily dose -- can help you lose weight, according to the Los Angeles Times. People can tolerate daily doses of 2,000 mg of catechins, according to the Mayo Clinic. Some tea pills, and some teas, contain additional ingredients that may be harmful. Jasmine added to green tea, for instance, was blamed for creating psychosis in a man who drank 10 cups daily, according to The Gazette. Bitter orange, an additive in such tea pills, may elevate your blood pressure and cause strokes and heart attacks.
References
- The New York Times; Tea: The Latest Health Food (but Hold the Clotted Cream); Jane Brody; Sept. 7, 1999
- The Globe and Mail; Green Tea a Possible Factor in Why Japanese Live So Long; Michelle Fay Cortez; Sept. 13, 2006
- The Washington Post; Give Green Tea a Try, but Get a Handle on the Perfect Brew for You; Robert L. Wolke; April 25 2007
- Mayo Clinic: Caffeine Content of Coffee, Tea, Soda and More
- Los Angeles Times; Slim Chance Green Tea Can Burn Fat Off; Chris Woolston; Aug. 16, 2010
- "Journal of Nutrition"; Green Tea Catechin Consumption Enhances Exercise-Induced Abdominal Fat Loss in Overweight and Obese Adults; Kevin Maki; February 2009
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