Tea and Dieting

Dieting to lose weight is difficult for many people because it requires eating less than they are used to, regardless of their cravings and hunger pangs. Tea may be a useful tool in helping people to lose weight because of its unique ability to speed up metabolism while decreasing hunger. Drinking tea, whether green, black, red or oolong, can have numerous benefits for a dieter.

Appetite

According to the University of Chicago Medical Center, a chemical component in green tea can decrease appetite. When rats were injected with epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), a component of many types of tea, they lost their appetite, ate less, and over time, their body weights decreased. Drinking tea may decrease a dieters' appetite so they can decrease the amount of food they eat without feeling hungry.

EGCG and Fat Metabolism

EGCG was also found to increase the rate at which obese adult men burned fat, as was found in a study published in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition. It is unknown whether this information can be extrapolated to represent women as well. It is likely that drinking large quantities of tea containing EGCG, such as green tea, may speed up the metabolism and boost the weight loss effects of dieting.

Caffeine

The Journal of the American College of Nutrition states that caffeine, which is naturally present in many teas, may boost the effectiveness of tea's ability to increase fat metabolism. This increase in fat metabolism is especially strong right after ingesting caffeine. Therefore, drinking tea with caffeine after meals may possibly help burn off the calories faster and reduce the amount of that food that is stored as fat in the body.

Thermogenic Effect of Water

The fact that tea contains mostly water may be another reason why tea can help dieters lose weight. The Journal of the American College of Nutrition states that after study participants drank 500 ml of water at 22 degrees Celcius, there was a 30% increase in how fast their metabolisms worked for up to an hour after drinking the water. The thermogenic effect of water is the phenomenon in which a person drinks either hot or cold water, making the body burn calories in the process of converting that water to the body's natural temperature of 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. Therefore, drinking hot tea several times each day would cause the body to burn extra calories, making dieting for weight loss more effective.

Consuming Fewer Calories

One of the most difficult times of the day for dieters is around 3 pm, when the food that they've eaten for lunch is metabolized and they begin to get hungry but don't want to overeat and spoil dinner. Tea is the perfect alternative to snacking in the mid-afternoon. Some people get used to the habit of snacking every day around the same time when they aren't even hungry. Eating mindlessly can be just a way to suppress stress, but it is not a good habit for dieting. Drinking hot tea can be a calming, calorie-free alternative to snacking in the afternoon.