01.14.08
New Years Resolution: Lose weight with Green Tea? The Skinny on Fat and Tea
posted by Sandy M. Bushberg | 10 comments
You’ve heard them many times before, maybe even uttered from your own lips. Those New Year’s Resolutions roll off our tongues like so much saliva. It’s certainly easy to say, but not so easy to follow through on.
The past few years have seen more and more reports about the weight reducing properties of green tea and, increasingly, people are drinking more tea for that purpose. But does green tea really help to shed those unwanted pounds? I thought I would take a look at the research to help clarify whether or not green tea really does make a difference with weight loss.
The good news, for you weight loss invoking New Years Resolution people: tea does have real physiological effects on weight loss and maintenance. There appear to be numerous factors involved that research continues to attempt to tease out. Tea, especially the less oxidized teas like white, green, yellow and even oolong, appear to have an advantage in the fight against weight gain. It provides the dynamic duo of caffeine and catechins (EGCG in particular). Each offers different mechanisms by which they impact weight but also appear to have an even more powerful synergistic effect to help us maintain a healthy weight.
Some of the primary mechanisms by which it works are as follows:
1. Thermogenisis - the caffeine inhibits the enzymatic breakdown of cyclic AMP, which is a source of energy creation in the body (from ATP) involved in protein, sugar and fat metabolism, and the EGCG inhibits the enzymatic breakdown of norepinephrine which is a neurotransmitter involved in Sympathetic Nervous System arousal (it also effects mood).
2. Lipolysis - acceleration of the breakdown of fat in the body.
3. Suppressing effect on Leptin - Leptin (the presence of which, paradoxically, signals reduced appetite) has an activating effect on angiogenesis (the creation of new blood vessels) which also appears to be linked to increasing fat cells (adipogenesis). Catechins have an inhibiting effect on Leptin creating an antiangiogenesis effect (reduces vascularization) which subsequently also reduces fat cells.
Keep in mind that the factors stated above seem to be the primary mechanisms currently being discovered, but researchers still don’t know a lot. Because of the richness of the phytochemical constituents in the Camellia sinensis plant, I am confident that they will continue to discover new mechanisms involved in addition to further clarifying existing ones. It is also important to keep in mind that much of the research has and is being done on rats as well as the use of concentrated extracts (rats and humans) which are often in much higher concentrations than a human would normally consume. In addition, it appears that these effects work best for modestly overweight or normal weight people, and not as well for obese individuals. Although I am now more convinced than ever of the real physiological effects that tea has on metabolism and weight, it remains unclear to me (and to much of the scientific community as well) exactly how much of an impact it has and how much tea must be consumed in order to have these effects. Therefore, my recommendations for your New Years Resolution is to drink as much tea as you would enjoy everyday as part of an overall healthy lifestyle. This way you can enjoy all of the wonderful life enhancing qualities that tea provides, including being one part of a healthy weight maintenance plan. Happy New Year.
p.s. For a look at a truly drastic weight loss diet with tea, read this article I wrote a while back.
[ photo credits: post main image by Anna.Hawaii at www.flickr.com; green tea image by News-Medical at www.news-medical.net ]
January 14th, 2008 at 4:01 pm
I was in Borders yesterday and guess what I saw as I walked in? The Ultimate Tea Diet by Mark “Dr. Tea” Ukra. Looked like some interesting recipes were included as well.
January 14th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
Thanks for the great info Sandy–also, the very sane recommendation for enjoying your tea. No sense turning it into a medicine, when it’s already good enough as a pleasure!
I loved reading about the 2 guys on the “tea only” diet–ha ha! It reminds me of Wiley Brooks, the self-described “Breatherian” down in California in the late 70’s, who claimed to be so “evolved” that he subsisted only on air–until he was caught red-handed scarfing down in a Burger King! Sad for his followers.
So have they done a study yet on the relationship between tea usage and stubborness? : )
Meanwhile, tea drinkers know already they’ve found the good stuff!
January 14th, 2008 at 5:38 pm
Dieting is one of those breathtakingly simple concepts: if you eat fewer calories than you burn, you will lose weight. I get the math; it’s temptation I cannot seem to avoid. This morning, though, the scales revealed that I am about a biscuit short of getting my own zip code. So, I started today, inspired by your post, Dr. Bushberg . . . to try the following: whenever a cookie or a bag of potato chips calls out to me, I am going to drink a cup of tea instead. So far, I have had three cups of Oolong, a whole pot of Morning Dew, and am about to put in a request that a restroom be built a bit closer to my classroom.
The students in my American Literature class were so intrigued by Morning Dew that I ended up making tea for the whole class - it took three steepings - and I finally broke out the new tea set Fr. Patrick inspired me to purchase. These students have indicated ZERO interest in Tuesday teas, but when they found out that tea could be used to quiet the cajoling of cookies, they had to try it.
January 14th, 2008 at 6:18 pm
So Regena, did the tea REALLY quell the cookie craving? : ) Inquiring minds want to know! I’m guessing that at the very least, it distracts from the cookie and passes time until the craving is passed. But what do you do if you don’t have time, or access to tea-making utensils? What would be a good “thermos tea”?
January 14th, 2008 at 8:14 pm
Distraction, the secret weapon of parents of two year olds, is the operational word here.
I take a thermos of Oolong with me on hikes, although I believe teadrinkers in the know would argue that tea loses a lot of its good stuff within a few minutes of steeping, and therefore do not recommend the thermos method. I am hoping Sandy will chime in here and clarify on this point. I’d like to think that thermos tea is better than no tea, and certainly better than indulging in a high fat, high sugar cookie.
January 14th, 2008 at 9:25 pm
Yes Regena - home brewed tea, without sugar or honey, is definitely a good, healthy choice. Yes, over time there is a drop in some of the constituents but I believe it’s still a healthy way to drink tea away from home. Even when it has 50% less than freshly brewed, it’s still got 50% more than water! So drink up and drink often.
January 14th, 2008 at 9:46 pm
I second Michelle’s comment. Keep in mind that when you drink a few cups of tea, besides the impact on weight I mentioned above, it also tends to fill you up more and increase your sense of satiety.
Anne, I would say that our Matcha Genmaicha would be a good thermos tea to help with those hunger cravings. Besides the the green tea and matcha, it has the roasted rice which provides additional proteins that give you a more full and sated feeling. The richness in the flavor of the tea almost makes you feel like you are eating something.
January 14th, 2008 at 10:16 pm
With regards to the thermos, what if you just took along a thermos of hot water, and steeped the tea just prior to serving? I guess the risk is that the water wouldn’t be so hot. But it’s a thought.
January 14th, 2008 at 11:02 pm
That’s exactly what we do when we bring tea on our hikes. A good thermos will hold the temperature of the water fairly consistently. If you know how much it drops over a period of time, you could load it up at a higher temperature to begin with and by the time you are ready, it will be just right. The other thing to consider is to pick a tea that has some flexibility in maintaining good taste over a wider range of brewing temperatures.
August 4th, 2008 at 7:12 pm
I work for a tea company and we have LOADS of questions about tea and weight loss - particularly different teas abilities to help you lose weight - oolong tea and puerh tea in particular. These are Chinese teas that are meant to help aid digestion a lot. We wrote this article on those 2 types of tea: I would certainly say that exercise is key, but some of our customers swear that the tea really helps.