Weight Loss With Green Tea

Green tea is not only beneficial for your health, but there is evidence that it can specifically help people to lose weight. Significant increases in the amount of calories burned by the body have been found within a 24 hour period of drinking green tea.

This is due to a boost in the body's metabolism, along with an increase in fat burning activity after drinking green tea.

A study in Switzerland showed that men who were given green tea extract with caffeine, burned more calories in a day than men who were given caffeine with a placebo. While green tea naturally contains caffeine, this wasn't the only reason for the increase in calories burned.

The catechin polyphenols in green tea actually boost the calorie burning rate inside the body. Because of the increase in energy expenditure caused by burning more calories, the amount of fat burned increases as well.

By boosting your metabolism, green tea helps to speed up the fat burning process in your body, while also helping to improve insulin activity. Insulin resistance (impaired insulin activity) is considered to be a major cause of both pre-diabetes and obesity.

The EGCG found in green tea appears to be the main reason for its ability to help improve insulin functionality. To find out the effects of different kinds of tea on fat cells and insulin, the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) conducted in vitro research, and found that insulin activity was fifteen times higher than normal.

Green Tea Extract

All of the different kinds of tea were discovered to have an affect on insulin, but green tea had the greatest effect.

One study (conducted over a three month period) of the effects of green tea on weight loss, showed that the participants (who were moderately obese) achieved a 4.48% decrease in waist size, and lost 4.6% of their body weight.

Another study was done with mice that were fed specific diets. Some of the mice were fed a high fat diet, others were fed low fat, and yet a third group of mice were fed high fat with 0.1% to 0.5% tea catechins.

Eleven months later, the body fat and weight of the mice was measured, and the mice that were fed the catechins showed substantial reductions in fat accumulation and weight gain.

If you decide that you would like to give green tea a try, you should know that the potency may vary depending on how you brew it, and the brands you decide to buy.

Brewed tea will provide much better results than instant tea, so it's advisable to stick with loose tea or tea bags. To get the best results, you may want to experiment with different varieties, and different amounts. There are also green tea supplements available.