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Tea and Weight Loss
Not only does tea help keep your body healthier, there is also evidence that
green tea specifically can help with obesity problems. Green tea has been
found to significantly increase the calories a body burns in the 24 hours
after drinking it. This increased energy expenditure by the body is due to a
boost in the metabolism and the body actually increases its fat burning
activity from green tea as well.
The metabolism boost can be seen with a study done in Switzerland, which
showed that men who were given caffeine along with a green tea extract
actually burned more calories each day than the men who were given a placebo
with caffeine. Green Tea has caffeine in it naturally, but that
was not the only reason for the boost in calorie burning. Green tea has catechin polyphenols which actually increase the rate that calories are burned
in the body. When your body burns more calories, more energy is used and
more fat is burned as well.
Green tea helps your body burn fat faster by increasing your metabolism, but
it also helps improve insulin activity in your body. Impaired insulin activity
- or insulin resistance - is thought to be a primary cause of both obesity and
pre-diabetes that is so prevalent in modern society today.
The best results for helping improve insulin functionality in the body appear
to come from the EGCG in Green Tea. The United States Department of
Agriculture (USDA) conducted in vitro research to see how different types of
tea affected insulin and fat cells. The insulin activity was more than 15
times that of normal, and although all types of tea affected the insulin
activity, Green Tea showed the best effects.
One study on the weight loss effects of green tea showed that over three
months, participants who were moderately obese lost 4.6% of their body weight,
and achieved a 4.48% reduction in waist size too.
Another weight loss study was conducted on mice fed certain types of diets.
Some mice were fed low fat, others were fed high fat, and a third group was
fed high fat along with 0.1%-0.5% tea catechins. After eleven months, the body
weight and body fats were measured, and those who had the tea catechins added
to their diet showed significant reductions in weight gain and fat
accumulation.
So, if weight loss, fat burning and extra energy are all things you'd like to
have more of, you may want to consider putting Green Tea on your daily
supplement list. Most likely two to three cups each day will be enough to
help, but you may want to try doubling that for the best results. The potency
of green tea will vary based on the brands you buy and how you brew it.
Instant tea does not have the same health benefits as brewed tea does,
though, so stick with tea bags or loose tea instead.
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