Green Tea for Weight Loss Shows Some Promise in Studies

Green tea has been touted for many health benefits recently, such as its high antioxidant count, ability to increase exercise endurance, and lowering effect on bad cholesterol levels. Most famously, however, green tea for weight loss is the most well-known and touted claim about green tea and green tea extract. This claim has led to countless studies about whether drinking green tea for weight loss actually helps people shed pounds.

Most studies regarding green tea for weight loss involve mice instead of humans, so this must be taken into account when reading the results in these studies. Even so, as an example, one green tea for weight loss study on mice showed that mice gained less weight, gained less fat, reduced their chance of a fatty liver, and had lower cholesterol levels.

Studies involving humans using green tea for weight loss have shown that green tea has a significant impact on metabolism and fat oxidation. Even more promising, the boost in metabolism from green tea was not related to caffeine content in the tea. From the studies, it is estimated that green tea increases energy expenditure by 4 percent over a full 24 hours, and by more than 40 percent during the daytime.

To try green tea for weight loss in your own diet plan, it is recommended that you select a respected brand of organic green tea from a health food store. Some health experts advise starting with one cup of green tea a day for weight loss, but studies testing green tea for weight loss used doses equaling about seven cups a day.