Caffeine, some flavonoids and polysaccharides in green tea claim to improve metabolism, air oxidation of human fat and insulin glargine sensitivity. But is green tea really helpful for slimming? Let's discuss what scientific research is about.
The basic theory behind green tea and weight loss Although weight loss is a complicated whole process from the perspective of molecular biology, it ultimately lies in a key factor: creating a calorie gap.
In order to make this whole process better, the stored human fat must be released from the somatic cells first, and green tea seems to be helpful to this whole process. The important factors behind this whole process are caffeine and green tea theanine (EGCG), which can release norepinephrine synergistically.
Norepinephrine is a very powerful fat-reducing transmitter, which can improve the body's ability to encourage human fat. Caffeine can immediately increase the amount of norepinephrine, while EGCG can inhibit the enzyme that breaks down norepinephrine.
It seems that green tea can also improve basal metabolic rate by regulating special growth hormones involved in heat production. So it seems that green tea has a good effect on losing weight.
How obvious is the actual effect of reducing fat of green tea? Green tea is a unique chemical substance, which can help reduce fat in theory, but the real question is whether it has much practical effect in the real world. Does the fat burning level of green tea have specific benefits for your fat reduction plan? It depends.
First of all, in order to get more obvious fat-reducing advantages from green tea, you need to take a lot of green tea extract in a tonic way. This is because EGCG, an important lipid-lowering nitric oxide synthase in green tea, is difficult to get enough from drinking only green tea.
The obvious weight loss advantage can only be seen if you consume 400-500mg EGCG every day, while a cup of green tea generally only shows 50mg EGCG.
Therefore, unless you drink more than 8 cups of green tea every day, you must buy high-quality green tea extract to see the real practical effect.
Secondly, the actual fat-reducing effect of green tea seems more reasonable for people who take caffeine irregularly.
If you are a regular coffee or tea drinker and have developed a long-term tolerance to caffeine, then green tea extract is likely to be difficult to help you lose weight.
Considering that most young people now have the habit of drinking coffee and tea shops, it is difficult for most people to gain significant weight loss from green tea.
What about these people who take caffeine drinks irregularly and want to lose weight faster? In this case, green tea extract is likely to be a little helpful, because there are scientific studies to apply its effectiveness. As everyone knows, it should be remembered that this influence is very small, and it will never be like what the tonic enterprises say.
For example, a group of healthy young men ingested green tea extract containing 270MgEGCG and 150mg caffeine, and scientific researchers observed that the basal metabolic rate increased by 4% within 24 hours [1]. In addition, a study using similar ingredients found that the experimenter consumed 179 calories more than the placebo effect group [2].
A study on 1 15 overweight women found that the average weight of 856mg of green tea extract decreased by 2.4 pounds within 12 weeks [3].
In addition, when taking 366 mg EGCG every day, the insulin sensitivity of young men with healthy body and mind increased by 65438 03% [4]. Insulin glargine sensitivity plays a particularly important role in improving nutrition distribution. The significance of nutrition distribution is that the calories you consume are more likely to be stored as muscle fibers or body fat.
Generally speaking, among these people who don't regularly consume caffeine, green tea helps to reduce fat moderately.
"Moderate" here means no more than 100 calories per day, or losing a few pounds of leisure weight within 12 weeks. As everyone knows, this is all speculation. Because the results vary from person to person, there is no way to predict and analyze how everyone will react.
Some people are likely to see a slightly stronger practical effect, while others are likely not to see all the benefits easily.
In addition, because green tea contains caffeine, and many studies using green tea are accompanied by caffeine, it is difficult to know how much the effect of burning fat comes from green tea itself or because of the addition of caffeine. It's not clear yet, but both are possible.
Anyway, if you plan to try a green tea supplement, you should take 400-500mg EGCG every day, preferably divided into three times.
Because the caffeine contained in green tea tonic can be ignored, you'd better take it with 200mg of caffeine every day to ensure a complete fat burning effect.
Another factor to consider is that the absorption rate of EGCG is relatively low, because humans lack transport substances that can transport molecules from the intestine to the body. You can mix EGCG with fish oil or black pepper and take it on an empty stomach to improve the absorption rate.
Health benefits of green tea Besides losing weight, green tea has many health benefits.
Green tea is rich in catechins and flavonoids, which are powerful antioxidants and reduce inflammation in the body by fighting free radicals. This is why green tea can resist aging, improve joint health and reduce the risk of many diseases. For example, the researchers found that:
Men who drink green tea regularly have a 48% lower risk of prostate cancer [5]. Drinking green tea can reduce the risk of breast cancer by 22% [6]. Green tea can prevent the oxidation of low density lipoprotein. This is why people who drink green tea have a much lower risk of cardiovascular disease. People who drink green tea often have a lower possibility of developing diabetes 18%[7]. More importantly, the natural combination of caffeine and L- theanine in green tea can be used to enhance cognitive ability. Caffeine can bind to adenosine receptors in your brain, increase the activity of nerve cells, and make you more energetic and focused.
Then, L- theanine cooperates with caffeine to further improve mental concentration, alertness and mood, and at the same time "eliminate" the negative effects of caffeine by inducing mental relaxation.
Conclusion Green tea, as one of the supplements, seems to help those who are not used to taking caffeine regularly to lose fat, but the dosage of EGCG should be sufficient (400-500mg).
However, don't expect a magical effect. After all, it may only help you lose weight for three months 1-2 kg. Weight loss should be based on a basic diet, and at the same time, with strength training to maintain muscles.
But even if green tea is not used as a fat-burning tonic, it has many benefits to the body.
However, if you are not used to drinking green tea or don't like it, don't force yourself to drink green tea in order to get these benefits.