Green Tea’s Effect on Weight Loss

Research report on herbal products effect on losing weight

Overweight and obesity are defined as abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that may impair health. In 2014, more than 1.9 billion adults, 18 years and older, were overweight. Of these over 600 million were obese (1). In America alone, approximately 51% of adults want to lose their weight (2).

A plethora of studies suggested that contents of Green Tea leaf extract will aid in reducing the weight. Green tea is rich in tea polyphenols such as catechins, theoflavins, tannins and flavonoids. Epidemiological studies showed that green tea is associated with weight reduction. A 2003 epidemiological cross-sectional study found that habitual tea drinkers who consumed tea for greater than 10 years had about lower % body fat than nonhabitual drinkers (3). Similarly, a Netherlands Cohort study of 4280 adults found an inverse relation between catechin consumption over a 14 year period and an increase in Body Mass Index or BMI (4).

Supporting epidemiological studies are a number of preclinical and clinical studies.  Many animal studies have reported green tea reduces adipose tissue and aids in weight loss. Some mechanisms include modulation of glucose uptake and inhibition of fatty acid synthase, an enzyme that helps in the synthesis of triglycerides (5). Green tea, green tea catechins, and epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) have been demonstrated in cell culture and animal models of obesity to reduce adipocyte differentiation and proliferation, lipogenesis, fat mass, body weight, fat absorption, plasma levels of triglycerides, free fatty acids, cholesterol, glucose, insulin and leptin, as well as to increase beta-oxidation and thermogenesis (6).

Lack of energy balance is one of the major causes of being overweight. Green tea consists of ingredients that can help reduce weight by enhancing energy expenditure and by increasing fat oxidation (7, 8). Energy expenditure is the total amount of energy you spend to carry out physical functions such as breathing, digesting food, circulating blood, and any work that you do. Fat oxidation or beta-oxidation is a process of breaking down fats into small molecules to provide energy to the body. Interventions aimed at increasing fat oxidation could potentially reduce diseases such as obesity and type 2 diabetes (9).

During recent years, an increasing number of clinical studies have confirmed the beneficial effects of green tea on weight loss and obesity. A multicenter, randomized, double-blinded study conducted on 117 female and 110 male obese patients demonstrated that intake of about 540 mg catechins that are present in tea leaves for 12 weeks significantly reduced the abdominal and visceral fat areas, body weight, body fat ratio and blood pressure compared to patients taking a placebo (10). Similarly, a study performed on 240 subjects indicated that green tea rich in catechins led to a reduction in body fat, LDL cholesterol, and systolic blood pressure suggesting that ingesting such extract contributes to a decrease in obesity and cardiovascular disease risks (11). Another study showed that 24h energy expenditure increases with the intake of green tea. Green tea induced energy expenditure is also long term as explained by a study where the ingestion of green tea catechins for 12 weeks increased the fat oxidation. Other studies in different subjects with a wide range of BMI (25 to 35), age range (18-60) in both genders supported that consumption of green tea reduces total body fat, body fat% and weight significantly (12-15).

To summarize, green tea’s effect on weight loss and the maintenance of weight reduction can be clinically significant with regular consumption of green tea.

Aceva’s Metatrim contains 200mg of Green Tea Leaf Extract in combination with L-carnitine fumarate, medium chain triglycerides, caralluma fimbriata, GABA, phosphatidylecholine and sodium alginate to maximize weight loss results.

References

1. WHO Fact sheet N311.

2. http://www.gallup.com/poll/166082/americans-desire-shed-pounds-outweighs-effort.aspx

3. Wu CH, Lu FH, Chang CS, Chang TC, Wang RH, Chang CJ. Relationship among habitual tea consumption, percent body fat, and body fat distribution. Obes Res. 2003;11:1088–95.

4. Hughes LA, Arts IC, Ambergen T, Brants HA, Dagnelie PC, Goldbohm RA, van den Brandt PA, Weijenberg MP. Higher dietary flavone, flavonol, and catechin intakes are associated with less of an increase in BMI over time in women: a longitudinal analysis from the Netherlands Cohort Study. Am J Clin Nutr. 2008;88:1341–52.

5. Kimberly A. Grove and Joshua D. Lambert. Laboratory, Epidemiological, and Human Intervention Studies Show That Tea (Camellia sinensis) May Be Useful in the Prevention of Obesity. J. Nutr. 140: 446-453, 2010.

6. Huang J, Wang Y, Xie Z, Zhou Y, Zhang Y, Wan X. The anti-obesity effects of green tea in human intervention and basic molecular studies. Eur J Clin Nutr. 68(10): 1057-87, 2014.

7. Westerterp-Plantenga M, Diepvens K, Joosen AM, Berube-ParentS, Tremblay A. Metabolic effects of spices, teas, and caffeine. Physiol Behav 2006; 89: 85–91.

8. Diepvens K, Westerterp KR, Westerterp-Plantenga MS. Obesity and thermogenesis related to the consumption of caffeine, ephedrine, capsaicin, and green tea. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 2007; 292: R77–R85.

9. Achten J, Jeukendrup AE. Optimizing fat oxidation through exercise and diet. Nutrition. 2004 Jul-Aug;20(7-8):716-27.

10. Kozuma K, Chikama A, Hishino E, Kataoka K, Mori K, Hase T et al. Effect of intake of a beverage containing 540mg catechins on the body composition of obese women and men. Prog Med 2005; 25:185–197.

11. Nagao T, Hase T, Tokimitsu I. A green tea extract high in catechins reduces body fat and cardiovascular risks in humans. Obesity (Silver Spring) 2007; 15: 1473–1483.

12. Tsuchida T, Itakura H, Nakamura H. Reduction of body fat in humans by long-term ingestion of catechins. Prog Med 2002; 22: 2189–2203.

13. Hase T, Komine Y, Meguro S, Takeda Y, Takahashi H, Matsui Y et al. Anti-obesity effects of tea catechins in humans. J Oleo Sci 2001; 50: 599–605.

14. Auvichayapat P, Prapochanung M, Tunkamnerdthai O, Sripanidkulchai BO, Auvichayapat N, Thinkhamrop B et al. Effectiveness of green tea on weight reduction in obese Thais: a randomized, controlled trial. Physiol Behav 2008; 93: 486–491

15. Wang M, Wen Y, Du Y, Yan X, Wei Guo H, Rycroft J et al. The effects of 90 days consumption of a high-catechin green tea beverage on body weight. Eur J Clin Nutr 2009.