Green Tea Weight Loss

Does green tea actually burn fat, like so many are claiming these days?

This seems to be the central question.

When you consider the fact that 1 pound of body fat equals around 3500 calories, then how many cups of green tea would you have to consume in order to burn this 1 pound?

Green tea does, indeed, burn some calories. It does this through a process called thermogenesis. This is the process of heat production in biological organisms.

The effects from thermogenesis are said to come mostly from the caffeine in green tea. But some studies also suggest that green tea's thermogenesis comes from more than just the caffeine itself.

When you drink 5 cups of green tea per day, this will burn around an additional 70 to 80 calories.

It doesn't come anywhere close to the recommended daily calorie deficit of 500. But it still helps a tiny bit.

It's not going to make you lose inches off your waistline overnight. Some people would like you to believe that, but it's in your best interest if you don't.

You'd need to drink 5 cups over the span of 6 weeks to achieve 1 pound of weight loss through green tea alone.

So while it may be a little over the top to speak of green tea weight loss, there definitely is a correlation. You just shouldn't expect any miracle results from it.

With green tea so hyped up as a fat burner, it's no wonder scientists have started taking a closer look at it.

Some are selling green tea in a pill, hoping to be the ones to invent the next miracle weight loss pill.

So what exactly is so great about green tea?

Here are a number of fun-to-know facts:

• Green tea has 0 calories
  
• Green tea contains catechins. These are anti-oxidants that reduce the risk of stroke, heart disease, cancer and they support your immune system
• Green tea has caffeine. Caffeine causes you to become alert and helps you endure longer while working out
  
• One study says that catechins enhance exercise-induced abdominal fat loss

Many studies have been done in animals to see how their body composition reacted to green tea.

• The University of Chicago researched epigallocatechins, a part of green tea, and showed that blood levels of glucose, lipids and cholesterol are reduced. It also reduced fat deposits under the skin and in the abdomin.
• Another study has showed that green tea enhances the metabolism of glucose and lipids, which is beneficial to your weight loss.

But what about the weight loss effects of green tea in human beings?

As stated above, you need to drink a lot of green tea. When you take green tea extracts, however, you get a much greater concentration than you would by drinking green tea in its liquid form.

One particular green tea weight loss study showed that taking green tea or oolong tea extract, increased the energy usage of the body by about 4%. Again, this was due to the thermogenesis effect.

In another study, a group of people was given caffeine and another group of people was given green tea so the thermogenesis effects could be compared.

It turned out that the green tea group had higher levels of thermogenesis.

No studies have ever been done on the long term effects of green tea weight loss.

Naturally, as with any other weight loss supplement, you cannot expect green tea to realize all your weight loss for you. When you are living on a steady diet of cookies, white bread, soda and other stuff that's bad for you, you will not get any good results just because you're dinking green tea.

It is just another supplement. You, yourself, are the only one who is responsible for your own weight loss!

So summing it all up... how exactly does green tea aid in weight loss and energy increase?

It's mostly the catechin anti-oxidants in green tea that are responsible for aiding you in your weight loss.

The catechins easily break down in environments that are not acidic. The intestines are non-acidic environments, and less than 20% of all catechins are eventually absorbed by your body.

So let's say that you were to try green tea weight loss, what should you pay attention to to make sure you get the most from it?

The catechins survive most easily in acidic environments, so...

• If you buy green tea weight loss pills, check to see if they have vitamin C in them. This ascorbic acid helps preserve the catechins.
• When drinking green tea, use lemon in it. The acid from the lemon will help the catechins survive.

Green tea makes you alert and gives you an overall feeling of wellness.

While it is not the miracle cure for obesity, I would still recommend everybody to make it a part of their diet!