Recently, there has been a lot of talk about the benefits of green tea. Is it really
possible for certain nutrients and compounds in green tea to attribute to weight
loss? What are these mysterious compounds, and how can they help your body with
weight loss? Myth or fact - can you really lose weight by adding green tea to your
daily diet?Green tea helps in weight loss. Green tea has the ability to increase
your body’s rate of burning calories, raise your metabolism, and enhance fat oxidation
boosting your body’s natural ability to burn fat. The super substance in green tea
that really helps reduce body fat is polyphenols, commonly called catechins. Catechins
stimulates the body to effectively burn calories while decreasing body fat.
Most teas contain antioxidants, anticancer polyphenols, and antiviral compounds;
but green tea is the only tea abundant in such fat burning catechins polyphenols.
More than 30% of green tea leaf consists of catechins. You actually gain extra weight
and pack on those unwanted pounds when extra sugars along with saturated fats are
stored in the body as fat cells. Green tea’s secret weapon catechins prevents extra
weight gain by blocking the usual movement of sugar also known as glucose in fat
cells. High levels of catechin polyphenols work with other beneficial compounds
to intensify the body’s level of fat oxidation which is when heat is formed in the
body by burning excess fat in the body as fuel.
Green tea catechins is found in green tea leaves are (EGCG) epigallocatechin gallate,
(ECG) epicatechin gallate, (EGC) epigallocatechin, and (EC) epicatechin. Black tea
used to be the more popular tea in the western world until research found that green
tea has more catechins making it more potent. One of the most potent antioxidants
of all the green tea catechins is epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG). Various research
reports indicate that green tea’s epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) is the key to
green tea weight loss. Leptin, a protein made of fats, is responsible in the way
the body manages all of its fat storage through certain brain signals.
Green tea’s powerful epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) has the ability to change the
body’s hormone levels which in turn regulates your appetite, so you eat less. Not
only does green tea change leptin levels in your body, but also increases noradrenaline
levels in your body. You must be thinking as to “What are my noradrenaline levels
and how does that effect weight loss?” Well, noradrenaline is a chemical neurotransmitter
in the nervous system, and is responsible in the activation of brown fat tissue
(BAT). Brown fat tissue is the only active fat in the human body. It is possible
to activate the brown fat much like a light switch with a simple click or boost
in noradrenaline levels.
There was a new study recently published in the Journal Cell Metabolism that delineated
that more research will be done to figure out how to tap brown fat’s calorie burning
ability. A person usually has white fat cells that collect and store calories instead
of burning them. Green tea with powerful catechins can increase your energy expenditure.
It causes carbohydrates to be slowly released which in turn stops quick increases
in blood-insulin levels, boosting the body to burn fat. Green tea’s epigallocatechin
gallate (EGCG) is a powerful antioxidant, but green tea alone will not make you
lose weight. You must eat a balanced diet and add exercise to your daily routine
to truly benefit from green tea.
