January/February 2000
HEALTH BYTES  

Green tea as diet aid?

Green tea appears to speed up calorie burning, including fat calorie burning. Researchers found that the number of calories used was higher for subjects taking green tea extract, as compared to those who received caffeine capsules or a placebo. There was additional evidence that those taking the green tea extract used more fat calories than those taking the placebo. The increased calorie burning in the green tea group cannot be explained by caffeine intake alone, since there was no difference in the burning of calories between the caffeine users and the placebo users. The authors suggest that the caffeine interacted with natural substances in green tea called flavonoids to alter the body's use of norepinephrine, a chemical transmitter in the nervous system, thus increasing the rate of calorie burning.

- American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, December, 1999