Does green tea aid weight loss?
Is green tea a fat burner?
Most likely you’ve heard these claims over and over again. But is it true?
Specifically I want to comment on a study that lead to the rather startling conclusion that…
You’ll burn 5g of fat every time you drink a cup of green tea.
Exciting stuff. Let’s have a look…
Green Tea & Weight Loss
‘Obesity Reviews’ published a meta-analysis (a study of studies) in 2011 [1] that concluded that a 200ml cup of green tea will about about 5g of fat. Not too shabby!
Data from 39 studies were looked at for this work.
Now, you may be tempted to think (as I previously was) that it’s simply the caffeine in green tea that does the work. Yes, caffeine will raise your metabolism and increase energy output (at least in the short term).
However, green tea also contains catechins, which work synergistically with caffeine to help increase the fat burning effects.
On average, a cup of green tea increased energy expenditure by 4.7% across the studies.
Now to the mathematics…
The researchers found that for every 1mg of caffeine/catechins mixture, fat burning was increased by 0.02g/day (compared with 0.01g for caffeine alone).
A 200ml cup of green tea contains a 283mg mixture (30g caffeine/253mg catechins).
283 x 0.02 = 5.66g fat.
Pretty good.
Will a cup of green tea burn 5g fat in every person, every time? No. There’s just no certainty of that.
But does regular, caffeinated green tea boost weight loss? Yes. Slightly.
While this is the case, it would pale in comparison to a caffeine/ephedrine stack recommended (but not compulsory) in Total Six Pack Abs.
Useful nonetheless 😀
Get Ripped & STAY Ripped!
Your buddy,
Mark (on Facebook? Click ‘like’ below or I’m coming round to your house with a baseball bat)
references : [1] The effects of catechin rich teas and caffeine on energy expenditure and fat oxidation: a meta-analysis. Hursel R, Viechtbauer W, Dulloo AG, Tremblay A, Tappy L, Rumpler W, Westerterp-Plantenga MS. Obes Rev. 2011 Jul;12(7):e573-81. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-789X.2011.00862.x. Epub 2011 Mar 2.
Mate, its going to be a long flight for you, and that baseball bat! I’ll ‘like’ anyway just cause all your articles deserve it and its great to actually read stuff that makes sense to a normal person for a change! Keep up the good work!
Hi Mark,
I’ve always been curious as to how much effect an ephedrine/caffeine stack has as a fat burner.
I’ve tried researching it, but the only unofficial claim i’ve seen is that it raises your metabolism about 5%.
From my personal experience I can say that, as a hunger suppressor it definitely works fantastic, no doubt about that, but does it really help you burn significantly more (fat)?
Could you please make a similar calculation for the EC stack?
@Jim. I got air miles, pal 😉
@Constantijn. Take any exact figures on this kinda thing with a pinch of salt. The take home message is basically that green tea will help you burn a “little” more fat.
I’ve heard a lot about Green Tea, just never tried it. I am going to give it a trial run Mark. Not first thing in the morning though. at 4:30 a.m., I Gotta Have My Coffee!! Ha,Ha!! Thanks for the Post Mark.
Got good information on use of green tea for weight loss. Its taste is really very different, but i am drinking green tea daily and now I feel healthy.