Drinking Green Tea May Help You Lose Weight

Title-----Drinking Green Tea May Help You Lose WeightGreen Tea Also Has Anticancer Properties------------------------------------------Green tea, which has been reported to have anticancerproperties and to raise levels of antioxidants in the bloodthat may ward off heart disease, now appears to have thepotential to promote weight loss.

A new study in the Marchissue of the International Journal of Obesity concludes thatgreen tea extract increases the burning of calories and fatneeded to lose weight.Green Tea In Liquid Or Capsule May Aid In Weight Loss------------------------------------------------------Previous animal studies showed that green tea extractincreased thermogenesis, which is the generation of bodyheat that occurs as a result of normal digestion,absorption, and metabolization of food. In previous humanstudies, the authors showed that consumption of green teaincreased thermogenesis as well as energy expenditure andfat loss in healthy men, suggesting that green tea in liquidor capsule form may be an effective way to aid weight loss.In the new study, conducted by Abdul Dulloo, from theInstitute of Physiology at the University of Fribourg inSwitzerland, researchers exposed a particular type of fattytissue from rats to caffeine and to green tea extractcontaining small concentrations of caffeine.

Green Tea Containing Caffeine Can Raise Metabolism---------------------------------------------------------Green tea containing caffeine significantly increasedthermogenesis by 28% to 77%, depending on dose, whereascaffeine alone resulted in no significant increase. When thestimulant ephedrine was added to green tea with caffeine,the increase was even more significant compared withcaffeine alone and ephedrine alone. Caffeine and ephedrineare used together in some herbal weight loss preparations,but there are many safety concerns regarding ephedrinebecause it raises heart rate and blood pressure.Dulloo and colleagues also tested the plant compound EGCGfound in green tea.

They found that the stimulant ephedrinealone had no effect on thermogenesis, but that caffeine plusephedrine resulted in an 84% increase. However, adding EGCGto the caffeine plus ephedrine mix increased thermogenesiseven further."Our studies ..

. raise the possibility that the therapeuticpotential of the green tea extract, or indeed a combinationof EGCG and caffeine, may be extended to the management ofobesity," Dulloo and co-authors write.A researcher who reviewed the study for WebMD says thatwhile the work is interesting and extends this group'sprevious findings by showing that compounds in green teaother than caffeine are involved in thermogenesis, cautionshould be used in interpreting animal data and applying itto humans."They used [a particular type of fatty tissue] from rats andwe don't really know how significant that tissue is inhumans or if it is different in obese vs.

non-obese people,"says Sheri Zidenberg-Cherr, PhD. "It doesn't rule out thesignificance of the findings, and it is a good model to useto look at the effects of caffeine and the combination ofcaffeine and the [plant] compounds that are present in greentea, but until better clinical trials are done in humans,it's hard to say what the physiological significance of thisactually may be."Zidenberg-Cherr, who is an associate professor of nutritionat the University of California, Davis, also points out thatthermogenesis plays only a very small role in energyexpenditure in adults. Most of the energy expended is usedto maintain basic body functions such as breathing and theflow of blood throughout the body.

She says green tea may have many health benefits due to itsplant compounds, but cautions that it is not the answer toweight-loss woes. "Green tea can't be used, and it shouldn'tbe used, as a 'magic bullet' for weight loss," she tellsWebMD. "You've got to combine it with other changes,including increasing physical activity and reducing ahigh-calorie diet."About The Author----------------Michael Lewis has been collecting articles and informationon Weight Loss and HGH (Human Growth Hormone and relatedhealth benefits.

He has created and edits numerous websites about this subject. Michael is a staff writer forwww.ageforce.com and several other websites.

If you wouldlike to contact Michael you can e-mail him atMichael@AgeForce.com or if you would like to know moreabout Weight Loss, HGH (Human Growth Hormone) and relatedhealth topics please visit us at .ageforce.com.

Michael Lewis has been collecting articles and informationon Weight Loss and HGH (Human Growth Hormone and relatedhealth benefits. He has created and edits numerous websites about this subject. Michael is a staff writer forwww.ageforce.

com and several other websites. If you wouldlike to contact Michael you can e-mail him atMichael@AgeForce.com or if you would like to know moreabout Weight Loss, HGH (Human Growth Hormone) and relatedhealth topics please visit us at .ageforce.

com.Contact him at .ageforce.com



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