Green Tea: Lesson 10 Studies on green tea extract (EGCG) and Obesity

Weight Loss and Weight Control

Green tea is the world’s most popular beverage. This was true well before all the benefits of green tea were known. Among the many benefits you will find in green tea are weight loss and weight control.

Study: Effects of green tea extract and weight gain

  • In 1999, The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition published a study to examine the effects of green tea extract on energy “burning” in humans.
  • They found that the Men who took daily doses of a green tea extract containing EGCg plus caffeine, in an amount equivalent to about 3 cups of green tea, burned around 80 more calories per day than those who didn’t take the extract.
  • * Taking the caffeine without the EGCg didn’t have the same effect .

Study: Effects of green tea extract and weight management

  • In a study involving animals, TWO groups of mice were placed on a high-fat diet designed to ensure they would gain weight.
  • One group was also given green tea extract.
  • Result: The mice that were given green tea extract ended up gaining 47% less weight than those that didn’t get the extract.

Study: Effects of green tea extract and weight loss

  • In a study published in 2005 in the Annals of Nutrition and Metabolism, researchers found that green tea extract actually helped to reverse established obesity.
  • Rats were deliberately overfed to make them obese.
  • But when the obese rats were given supplemental EGCg, the amount of fatty tissue on their bodies decreased markedly, reversing their obesity.

How does it work?

  • cranks up the fat-burning effects of brown fat, a special kind of fat that creates heat by burning calories at a very high rate.
  • lowers the body’s production of fatty acids, blood fat and cholesterol.
  • charges the body’s calorie burning potential.
  • blocks fat absorption in the body.
  • sends glucose to muscles, to be used for energy, rather than to fat tissue, where it’s stored.

Study after study have been done on the effects of green tea on weight loss and weight management. One thing they all have in common is the understanding that drinking the right amount of green tea every day can not only help you shed those excess pounds, but help you keep them off for good.