There is a huge curiosity in the internet about the fat burning capability of tea and mostly green tea. Some tea marketers leveraged this widely held perception and positioned their product to have a good potency on enhancing metabolism, which in turn burn body fats. Is this a fact or just some marketing gimmicks? The answer leans towards the later.
Tea is known for its antioxidant properties and not so much on its metabolic capability. The Polyphenol compounds of tea specifically catechin & flavanoid are the ones give the antioxidant power of tea. It could be a green tea or black tea or oolong tea or any types of tea. All teas contains good amount of polyphenol compounds and so they all are good source of antioxidants. But these compounds are not very known for enhancing metabolism, while there are studies which shows that they have modes effect on LDL or bad cholesterol. But the weight reduction belief for tea is not scientifically proven nor is it making too much of logical support.
Some studies have shown some increase in metabolic rate but then the increment doesn’t seem to be significant enough to make claims. Yes, there are some probability of increasing metabolic rate after consumption of tea because of the amino acid called L-Theanine and Caffine. The combination of L-Theanine and Caffine can give some mental alertness, they induce the alpha brain activity and this is the reason why we get freshness after drinking tea. This is similar to the mental wake up you get when your drink black coffee when you are down or drowsy. A freshness is bound to increase your physical activities which will induce some metabolisms. But, do people really start jumping or jogging after drinking tea or coffee? The answer is most probably not. Therefore, a mental alertness can’t be an evidence for burning your fat.
So tea may not really help you in reducing your weight. Is that a sad story for drinking tea? Absolute NOT. The antioxidant which you derived from drinking tea is equally or more important than shedding a pound here and there. After all life is not all about being THIN.
