Green Tea Diet

Green tea is available all over the Internet and in supermarkets and drug stores, marketed as the natural key to weight loss. The extravagant advertisements promise weight-loss miracles simply by drinking green tea. They include “after pictures” of models who look like shrunken versions of their “before-green-tea” selves.

A few scientific studies indicate that green tea might help people stay slim or lose weight. Green tea has some effect on thermogenesis, the generation of heat that naturally occurs when you digest food. One study shows that green tea with caffeine increases thermogenesis from 28 percent to 77 percent. Another study indicates that some of the chemicals in green tea, particularly apigallocatechin gallate (known as EGCG), increase metabolism slightly (by 4 percent). Other studies from the Institute of Physiology at the University of Fribourg and the University of Geneva in Switzerland, Purdue University, the National Cancer Institute, the University of Kansas, Western Reserve University, and Saitama Cancer Research Institute in Japan confirm additional health benefits from drinking green tea. For instance, Chinese people who drink green tea reduce their risk of esophageal cancer by nearly 60 percent, and women with breast cancer who drink green tea have fewer recurrences.

Some studies indicate that the compounds in green tea may lower “bad” cholesterol levels and increase “good” cholesterol, and have a beneficial effect on the body’s insulin regulation. Drinking green tea may also reduce the incidence of lethal blood clots and shrink cancerous tumors in their early stages. Green tea may kill off certain bacteria, and thus reduce tooth decay and mouth diseases, as well as protect the body from colds and flu. These studies are ongoing and inconclusive.

Created: 2000

Categories: One Food, Fad, Supplements or Pills

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