Improve your health with green tea dietary supplement

We’ve hinted at the potential link between taking green tea dietary supplements and weight loss in previous posts, so lets take a few minutes to explore the facts of this relationship in a little more detail. There are three main ways that green tea extract could help you to lose weight, which are:

Caffeine increases your metabolic rate

Unless it has been removed, both green tea and green tea dietary supplements contains caffeine, which is a central nervous stimulant that will increase your metabolic rate. This increases your heart rate, burning more calories even in a sedentary position. It also provides energy, which helps you to exercise with more gusto and for longer periods. Caffeine is even suggested for runners to improve their performance! In moderation, it can give you the energy and drive and make it to the gym and work off some pounds, while also increasing the rate that you burn energy.

Green Tea EGCG increases your metabolic rate

The International Journal of Obesity found that the catechins in green tea or green tea dietary supplements, such as green tea EGCG, “significantly decreased body weight and significantly maintained body weight after a period of WL (weight loss)”. They additionally found that caffeine does not inhibit this effect, for a final conclusion that a mixture of green tea EGCG or green tea catechins plus caffeine have a small positive effect on weight loss or weight maintenance.

Caffeine sheds excess water

Caffeine is also a known diuretic, which means that it will make your body get rid of excess water. While this isn’t “true” weight loss in that it’s simply getting rid of your water reserves, it will make you look slimmer very quickly. When people lose weight in the short term, it is generally due to shedding water weight. Note that this is just a cosmetic effect, and doesn’t actual mean that you’re getting fitter, but it sure can help you look nice.

Obviously, you can receive these same benefits from either green tea, or by taking a green tea capsule. However, I suggest the capsule since it saves time, and removes the temptation of adding honey or sugar to your tea, since many people haven’t grown to like the taste of raw tea.

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According to a 2006 article in JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association) which studied the effects of Green Tea consumption on mortality due to cancer, cardiovascular disease and all other causes, drinking green tea is associated with a lower reduce your risk of mortality. They discovered that the relationship between green tea consumption and lowered risk of cardiovascular disease was the most significant, while green tea consumption had no significant effect on mortality due to cancer. Among cardiovascular diseases, green tea consumption had the strongest association with lowered stroke mortality. These associations were also stronger in women when compared to men.

While it was not explicitly studied, it could be the case that the same health benefits can be gained from green tea dietary supplements, since they contain the same polyphenols as green tea. In additional, the inverse relationship between green tea consumption and mortality due to cardiovascular disease grew stronger as green tea consumption increased, with the highest group studied drinking 5 or more cups a day. That’s a lot of tea! If you have a busy life it is unlikely that you have the time to brew and drink that much green tea, but what if the same benefits could be had with a few green tea dietary supplements every day?

For reference you can find the article abstract here, and as always, consult with your doctor before starting any supplements.

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