Does Green Tea Extract Help You Lose Weight?
创建于05.10
Green tea is one of the most popular beverages consumed across the globe. Amongst its many proposed health benefits, which include the prevention of cancer, cardiovascular disease, anti-inflammatory effects, antioxidative properties, and neuroprotective effects. it’s most popular claim to fame, is weight loss. But can green tea really help you lose weight? We’re going to take an in-depth look at what the research says, to find out if green tea really helps with weight loss.
What Is Green Tea Extract?
Green tea is produced from the Camellia Sinensis plant. To produce green tea, freshly harvested tea leaves are immediately steamed to prevent fermentation from taking place. This process then yields a dry, stable product. The steaming process destroys the enzymes responsible for breaking down the color pigments in the green leaves and allows the tea to maintain its green color during the ensuing rolling and drying processes. This process preserves the natural polyphenols, which holds all of the health-promoting properties.
Green tea has many proposed health benefits due to its antioxidant properties. Since green tea is not oxidized, unlike black tea or oolong tea, it naturally contains more health-boosting polyphenols (antioxidants). These polyphenols include flavanols, flavandiols, flavonoids, and phenolic acids. The majority of polyphenols are flavanols which also known as catechins.
How Does Green Tea Extract Work?
EGCG has a direct effect on increasing fat oxidation, the body’s ability to use body fat for energy and boosts your ability to burn more calories at rest through promoting thermogenesis. In other words, EGCG boosts your metabolic rate. Research indicates, that by combining green tea extract with moderate-intense training, fat oxidation will increase from 17-20%, in addition to the increase of fat-oxidation from exercise alone. Therefore, green tea extract can help you lose weight by utilizing your body fat for fuel and helping you burn more calories.
Green tea weight loss claims
Green tea is healthy – full stop. You can’t really go wrong with leaves and water! However, it goes deeper than that, green tea is considered one of the healthiest drinks on the planet. This is because it is teaming with antioxidants and other helpful plant compounds that have tons of potential benefits for our health – with weight loss being just one of them.
How to lose weight with green tea
Let’s explore some of the many green tea benefits for weight loss. It’s what’s inside those counts: fat-burning compounds. Green tea is naturally rich in some really beneficial compounds for our bodies, the main two being:
1. Caffeine
2. Antioxidants
Caffeine & weight loss
A lot of us rely of caffeine to perk us up in the mornings and help us feel ready to tackle the day. And while most of us head straight for the coffee, green tea could also give us a caffeine boost. Granted, an average cup of green tea (75mg) has less caffeine than a cup of coffee does (100 – 140mg) – but that just means you can have more!
Caffeine is a stimulant that has been proven time and time again to help burn body fat and improve exercise performance.2,3 This is a winning combo, as when you exercise, your body burns extra calories. The extra calorie burn combined with a healthy calorie-controlled diet is one of the best ways to shift stubborn excess fat. That’s why you’ll find it in lots of fat-burning and pre-workout supplements.
Antioxidants & weight loss
Antioxidants are plant compounds that help us to fight against ‘free radicals’ – particles that increase oxidative stress in our bodies. As green tea is minimally processed, it contains more antioxidants, and subsequently health benefits than black tea.4
Green tea contains a group of antioxidants called polyphenols, which make up to 30% of its dry weight. Most of these are flavanols, commonly known as catechins. Green tea catechins have been subject to many studies, with scientists becoming more and more interested in catechins ability to aid fat loss.
How many cups of green tea to lose weight?
Opinions vary on this subject, with some studies suggesting you only need to drink 1 cup a day, while others say that you should drink between 3-5 cups a day.
Drinking 2-3 cups of green tea a day seems to be a sensible option if you are trying to lose weight, or simply swapping all your hot drinks for green tea.13 Everyone is different and so are our metabolisms and tolerance for caffeine, so just play around and see what consumption is best for you.
Green tea is very low in calories and has so many suggested health benefits that it is unlikely to do you any harm. But if you have developed a taste for green tea and plan to drink a lot of it, it is always best to check with your doctor as large doses of caffeine can cause problems for some people, e.g. those with high blood pressure.
Is green tea the best tea for weight loss?
Green tea does seem to come out on top for teas that can help with weight loss, but you may be wondering if there are any other options in the world of tea?
In theory, all teas can help you to lose weight if you use them as a substitute for calorie-laden lattes or sugary fizzy drinks. Especially if you opt for pure tea with no milk and no added sugar.
There are also weight loss teas and ‘tea-toxes’ available that may help you to shake a few pounds. These slimming teas are usually made up of several natural herbs and extracts that either help reduce food cravings or act similarly to green tea and support your energy levels / metabolism with ingredients like caffeine.
Conclusion
Green tea is a popular beverage that has been used for many years due to its purported anti-inflammatory, antioxidative, and anticancer effects.
Some research suggests that green tea contains compounds that may help promote weight loss by enhancing fat oxidation and boosting your metabolism.
However, several other studies haven’t found any significant weight loss benefits from green tea.
Consider speaking with a healthcare professional if you want to lose weight. They can help develop a dietary and exercise plan that’s best for you.
References
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