Isn’t it nice when a food or drink that you actually enjoy turns out to be good for you as well? I love having a large mug of green tea suring the afternoon when I’m feeling a little drowsy. Or during the summer months, a cool glass of iced green tea is very refreshing.
There are many health benefits to drinking green tea regularly and one of those benefits just happens to be fat loss. Now before you get too excited, I’ll say that green tea is not a magic bullet for weight loss. But it can help.
How Green Tea Helps To Burn Fat
Green tea contains caffeine and catechins, both of which are thermogenic compounds that produce body heat by burning fat for fuel.
Catechin is an anti-oxidant chemical found in plants (phytochemical). Green tea contains four main catechins, with EGCG being the most concentrated. These catechins activate your body’s thermogenic, fat burning processes by inhibiting an enzyme that degrades norepinephrine. Norepinephrine is an important fat burning hormone in your body. Green tea helps to promote thermogenesis by elevating norepinephrine levels for longer durations.
The caffeine found in green tea works synergistically with catechins to really rev up your body’s metabolism. In fact, your metabolism can stay elevated for up to 24 hours according to some studies. Needless to say, drinking green tea is a great way to supplement your fat burning or weight loss program.
For those who don’t really like drinking green tea, there are a number of good quality green tea supplements on the market that make it easy and convenient to take. A study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed that absorption of catechins was actually increased by taking green tea in supplement form.
Other Health Benefits
In addition to enabling your body to burn more fat, green tea has other health benefits that make it worth taking.
Catechins are anti-oxidants that scavenge for free radicals that can damage DNA and contribute to heart disease and cancer. Lab studies suggest that the catechin EGCG regulates and inhibits cancer growth and kills cells that are growing inappropriately.
In addition, EGCG can reduce blood clots and atherosclerosis to help in the fight against heart disease.
So green tea gets a two thumbs-up from me as a safe and healthy dietary supplement that also aids in the battle to lose weight.
Related Information
Green Tea, Cayenne & Your Metabolism – Does Green Tea Burn Fat?
www.precisionnutrition.com/thermogenic-foods1/17/12
There are actually foods that can increase your metabolism and increase how much energy you use. These are known as thermogenic foods, since they get your body to burn more calories, which is a measure of heat/energy use (“therm” refers to heat).
I guess “foods” isn’t really the right word for them, since they’re actually chemicals such as caffeine, the “hot” in hot peppers (capsaicin) and compounds in green tea (catechins). All these compounds can increase how much energy you use (up to 4-5% or 70-100 calories/day) and how much fat you burn (10-16% more).
Green Tea Fat-Burning Phenomenon: The Secret Behind It All
www.bodybuilding.com1/31/08
What is causing all the buzz about green tea? Polyphenols are the answer. These incredible polyphenols, commonly known as flavanols or catechins are vital for every bodybuilder trying to get ripped. Learn more right here!
www.webmd.com4/17/09
Experts explain green tea’s potential health benefits for everything from fighting cancer to helping your heart. … Still, real-world evidence is lacking; most of the consistent findings about green tea’s health benefits have come out of the lab.
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