GREEN TEA WILL HELP WITH WEIGHT LOSS

The benefits of green tea are growing each year.  Of the benefits of green tea, weight loss may be the most important.  Research strongly supports that waist circumference is a better predictor of health problems than body mass index (BMI).  BMI is usually determined by the skin pinching test.  Your body consists of different kinds of muscle, nerve, endocrine, and connective tissue/cells.  So it seems logical that different fat cells would exist, and they do!!!  This is important because different cells to do not respond to hormones, drugs, stress, etc., homogeneously.  So, certain compounds may be used to specifically target fat cells linked to obesity.

Without going into great deal, basically two different types of fat exists, subcutaneous and visceral.  Subcutaneous fat exists underneath the skin throughout the body.  Visceral fat is deeper within the body and surrounds mainly the abdominal organs.  Research supports that basal free fatty acid (FFA) flux, lipolysis rates and secretory protein expression are markedly higher in visceral compared with subcutaneous fat cells.  These findings suggests visceral fat cells are more influenced by stress, hormones, and calories compared to subcutaneous fat.  Visceral fat is also linked to obesity related health concerns like diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, and cancers.  Subcutaneous fat plays more of a body insallation role to stay warm, so it stays more consistent then visceral.  When fat is gained, both types can expand, but visceral fat gain greatly exceeds that of subcutaneous.


Catechines are a plant secondary metabolite that is a natural phenol and antioxidant.  They not only help reduce existing fat cells, but also prevent dietary fat-induced weight gain.  Stored fats can be released and oxidized to create energy, called lipolysis.  Visceral fat has the highest rate of oxidation compared to subcutaneous fat.  Tea catechins have be shown to increase fat oxidation, particularly during the postprandial (after eating) period.  This supports that catechins burn stored fat and reduce new fat from being absorbed.    A study in the Journal of Nutrition, found  that subjects consuming green tea catechins (625mg/d) after 12 weeks had a 8.7% intra-abdominal fat area loss compared to 0.3% fat loss by the control group.  They also found that people consuming catechins had an increased baseline metabolism (3-4% increase in 24h energy expenditure).




So, catechins can be consumed to aid in weight loss and prevention.  By specifically targeting abdominal fat (visceral), the waist will decrease along with store fat, decreasing chances of diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, cancers, etc.  When combined with exercise, the oxidation of fat effect is increased.  But the type of exercise is very important.  Fat oxidation takes multiple steps and requires oxygen, so aerobic exercise (jogging, dancing, biking, etc) will support more fat oxidation compared to anaerobic (weight training, sprints, etc).  The effects of green tea catechins are found after consuming about 625mg/d of catechins.  Brewed green tea contains the most catechins but to reach 625mg, you have to drink about 5-6 cups per day, which can be hard to do on a consistent basis.  However, this can achieved by taking catechin supplements, which can be found at most vitamin and health store.  The best deals I have found are on Amazon.