Green Tea Revs Up Calorie Burning
Participants: 10 healthy men, average age 25
Where: Japan
Type of study: Randomized, crossover
Study methods: At the beginning of
the study, the 24-hour energy expenditure and respiratory quotient of each man
was measured.
Then, on three separate occasions, each man was randomly assigned to receive one
of the following treatments:
- green tea extract plus caffeine (90 mg EGCg plus 50 mg caffeine); or
- caffeine alone (50 mg caffeine) ; or
- a placebo
For each treatment day, the volunteers took the treatment with breakfast,
lunch and dinner. All of the men eventually received each one of the treatments;
thus they performed the experiment on three separate days.
Each day that the men were treated, they spent 24 hours in a
respiratory chamber where their daily energy expenditure and other values were measured.
What happened: On the days that the men received
green tea extract plus caffeine, their
24-hour energy expenditure increased significantly, and they burned about 80 additional
calories, compared to the days when they took caffeine alone or
the placebo. The total daily dose of green tea extract that they took was the equivalent
of that found
in about 3 cups of green tea.
Researchers' conclusion: "Green tea has
thermogenic properties and promotes fat oxidation beyond that explained by its
caffeine content per se."
Citation: Dulloo AG, Duret C, Rohrer D, et al.
Efficacy of a green tea extract rich in catechin polyphenols and caffeine in
increasing 24h energy expenditure and fat oxidation in humans. Am J
of Clin Nutr 1999; 70(6):1040-5. (Click here to read PubMed study
abstract.)
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Nadine Taylor, M.S., R.D. presents
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