Green Tea: Weight Loss Supplement

A penny for your thoughts. A pill for your fats. Who here wouldn’t love a pill to melt away their fats?

Although weight loss supplements are not likely to work miracles, dieticians and weight-loss experts alike agree that most weight loss supplements greatly helps the dieter in his continuing battle for curves and muscles. Of the three commonly used weight loss supplements in the market today, green tea extract seems the most promising. (The other two weight loss supplements are protein and ephedra.)

Green tea is the common name for Camellia sinensis, a plant cultivated by the Ancient Chinese as a remedy for headaches, indigestion, and depression. In recent studies, it was found that green tea can be a potential cure for cancer and several other major diseases as well.

However, the merits of green tea is not only restricted to medicine. It has been found that certain properties found in green tea makes it an excellent organic alternative to weight loss supplements.

The use of green tea extract in weigh loss supplements was spurred by the recently concluded study by American and Swiss scientists at the University of Geneva. Published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, their study showed that green tea has a lot of antioxidants that can cause an increase in energy expenditure of the body. This led them to surmise that green tea extract can become a potential weight loss supplement.

Green tea weight loss supplements contain both caffeine and the chemical epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG). When these two substances in green tea react to each other, metabolism rates increase along with the body’s 24-hour energy expenditure. Green tea’s EGCG also triggers the release of the hormone noradrenaline, an appetite-suppressant.

Green tea weight loss supplements can boost the body’s metabolic rates, thereby increasing the rate by which fat and calories are burned. Green tea weight loss supplements can also stimulate the body into burning fats faster, leading to more fats being turned into energy. According to a recent study published in Phytomedicine, a journal on the health benefits of plants, people who take in green tea extract as weight loss supplement ideally lose about two-and-a-half pounds a month.

Green tea weight loss supplements come in standardized tablets or capsule forms. For best results, choose a green tea weight loss supplement that contains ninety milligrams of EGCG and fifty milligrams of caffeine. Green tea weight loss supplement is normally taken three times a day before meals. Even though green tea weight loss supplements have no adverse side-effects, it is still advisable to consult medical advice before taking them.

Green Tea Weight Loss Patch

n the mood for a sticky diet?

The hysteria on low carb diet has brought the onset of several dieting products that are based on low carb approaches. One of the newest products to hit the dieting market are weight loss patches.

Inspired by the success of nicotine patches marketers struck on the idea that weight loss patches may work the same way. Weight loss patches are basically designed for people who forget to take their regular dosage of weight loss supplements or capsules. With weight loss patches, a person will no longer need to take pills as he will have a 24-hour supply of weight loss substance stuck to his skin.

Weight loss patches are commonly made from such ingredients as algae and seaweed which are known appetite-suppressants. Later studies on weight loss and diets led to the use of green tea as a weight loss patch.

Green Tea as Weight Loss Patches

As far back as the Ming dynasty and perhaps even earlier than that, green tea has been used as herbal remedy and overall health drink in China. In recent times, speculations on the use of green tea as a possible remedy for cancer have arisen due to the discovery that the polyphenol substance found in green tea can stop cancer cells from growing.

The polyphenols in green tea weight loss patches also have other uses. A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition shows that green tea polyphenols can speed up the metabolic rate of the body. With this recent discovery, several companies specializing in pharmaceutical products have started introducing green tea into the market as a supplement either in the form of diet pills or weight loss patches.

Green tea weight loss patches are a better alternative to other products since they have no adverse side-effects. Other substances that induce weight loss like ephedra may increase heart rates which could lead to cardiovascular complications.

Green tea weight loss patches are good for people with high LDL, the bad cholesterol found in the body. Because the antioxidants in green tea weight loss patches destroy LDL cholesterols while at the same time enhancing the good cholesterol levels in the body, a balance in the body is achieved which could only lead to overall good health and well-being.

Green tea weight loss patches works in two ways. First, they suppress appetite naturally and safely. A study at the University of Chicago showed that rats when injected with green tea can lose up to 21% of their bodyweight. This is due to the fact that a substance present in green tea acts as a natural appetite-suppressant that staves off hunger.

Green tea weight loss patches also increase metabolism. With their high epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) content, green tea weight loss patches have a distinct advantage over stimulant diet drugs which can be harmful to individuals with hypertension and heart complications.

Miracle Cup: The Health Benefits of Green Tea

How do you fit a miracle in a cup?

For 4,000 years, the Chinese people have been using green tea as treatment for everything from headaches to depression.

Today, studies are conducted in Asia and the west in order to produce hard evidence of the health benefits of green tea. In the 1994 edition of the Journal of National Cancer Institute, the results of an epidemiological study stated that one of the health benefits of drinking green tea is that it can reduce the risk of esophageal cancer in Chinese men and women by up to 60%.

The rich presence of catechin polyphenols, particularly epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) is the reason why green tea has so much health benefits. A powerful antioxidant, EGCG can not only inhibit the growth of cancer cells but can also destroy them without harming healthy cells.

The University of Purdue has also concluded a research on how a certain compound present in green tea can stop cancer cells from growing. Still another health benefit of green tea is its ability to lower down cholesterol levels and improve the ratio between good (HDL) cholesterol and bad (LDL) cholesterol.

The EGCG in green tea is a health benefit substance that can lower down LDL cholesterol levels and stop blood from forming abnormal clots (thrombosis), a leading cause of heart attacks and strokes.

Green tea has more health benefits compared to other Chinese teas like oolong and black tea, all of which come from the plant Camellia sinensis. What makes green tea different is the process by which it is made. Green tea owes much of its health benefits to how the Camellia sinensis leaves are steamed. The steam process keeps the EGCG health benefit of green tea from oxidizing. With oolong and black teas, however, the leaves are fermented instead of being steamed, thus causing the EGCG health benefit to transform into another less medicinally potent form.

Aside from medicinal value, green tea can also offer other health benefits, especially in the fitness field. Drinking green tea can cause a person to burn down more calories. A recent study on the health benefits of green tea shows that the drink can help dieters. According to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 1999, men who take both caffeine and green tea burn down more calories than men who only take caffeine or a placebo.

Another health benefit of green tea is its bacteria-destroying properties. The health benefit of green tea in this area is that it can help prevent food poisoning and also prevent tooth decay. The substances found in green tea kill the bacteria causing food poisoning and those that cause dental plaque to form.

Well known for its countless medicinal and health benefits, green tea is nothing short of a miracle.