Drink Tea – Lose Weight?

Green tea has long been thought to have health benefits and has been claimed to have slimming effects. There are also a number of other tea varieties with various oriental sounding names that are being heavily promoted for their weight loss characteristics. One such is Wulong (or Oolong) tea.

Wulong (also called Oolong) tea is a Chinese tea that is partially oxidized; in taste it is more like green tea than black tea and is usually drunk without milk. In recent times there have been some incredible claims for the properties of Wulong tea; according to some it lessens signs of aging, boosts energy, improves dental health, reduces hair loss, improves the immune system, reduces the signs of eczema and treats Type 2 diabetes. But are any of these claims credible or proven.

There is very little scientific evidence to show that so called slimming teas actually achieved anything in terms of weight loss. Most of the research that has been done has focused on green tea.

Green tea and black tea come from the same plant, Camelia sinensis; the differences in taste and colour are due to the way the leaves from the plant are processed. Both green and black teas contain similar amounts of flavonoids, which are powerful antioxidants, but because of the differences in processing different types of flavonoids are founds in green and black teas.

Research to date has focused on a flavonoid called epigallocatechin gallate or EGCG, but most of this research has not gone beyond laboratory studies. There have been very few human trials, and those that have been conducted have been poorly designed meaning that the slimming benefits of green or partially green teas have not been proved.

However, there is a large amount of evidence concerning the health benefits of tea (both black, green and other types) due to its antioxidant properties and lower the risk of many problems including heart disease, cancer, stroke, and Alzheimer’s disease. Tea is also a source of fluoride, which is important for healthy teeth and, although tea contains caffeine, there is not enough to have a diuretic effect.

Also of concern is the ethics of the companies promoting these weight loss teas, a quick Internet search will return hundreds of results offering free trials, half price trials and the like but quite a lot of these “offers” tie you into a long term subscription and are incredibly expensive for something that has no scientific basis. If you prefer the taste of green tea or some of the other more unusual varieties you will often find cheaper alternative in your local supermarket or specialist grocer.

So, our advice is avoid all of the trendy teas (unless you like the flavour), put the kettle on and enjoy your favourite cuppa ….

For more information visit our web site http://www.freedietonline.co.uk/

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