Green Tea's Catechins May Block Fat & Promote Healthy Weight Loss

More about green tea, catechins and weight loss.  I've been drinking loose green tea from China for several years, about three or four cups daily with fresh organic juiced ginger.

One day last week, I ran out of my juiced ginger that I keep in a spice jar refrigerated(lasts 2 days) and drank green tea alone without the usual ginger…stomach ache.  I juiced more on the spot and my stomach was peaceful again. That's how medicinal ginger is.  So now we can talk about green tea, weight and fat loss.

The University of Connecticut's Richard Bruno, PhD, RD, and colleagues reported in February's edition of The Journal of Nutrition that green tea might block fat and promote weight loss according to preliminary lab tests in mice.

Here's what those preliminary lab tests in mice show:

Less weight and fat gain among mice with an obesity gene, those that ate chow laced with green tea extract gained less weight and less fat. Less fat in the liver. There was less sign of "fatty liver" disease in the mice with the obesity gene that ate chow laced with green tea extract. Lower cholesterol and triglyceride levels in mice with the obesity gene that ate the chow laced with green tea extract compared to other mice with the same obesity gene.

You would have to drink seven cups of green tea daily to equal a smiliar amount of the tea extract in this study.

In an article about the benefits of green tea from WebMD, a new study shows that drinking green tea may also help to reduce fat.

Here's why:  most teas contain large amounts of polyphenols, which are plant-based substances that have been shown to have antioxidant, anticancer, and antiviral properties.  However, green tea is rich in a type of polyphenols called catechins which may affect body fat accumulation and cholesterol levels.

Researcher Tomonori Nagao of Health Care Products Research Laboratories in Tokyo suggests:

the catechins in green tea contribute to the prevention of and improvement in various lifestyle-related diseases, particularly obesity.  Catechins may trigger weight loss by stimulating the body to burn calories and decrease body fat.

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