New Study: Tea Helps You Lose Weight

As Thanksgiving creeps up, a lot of us are already starting to gain the dreaded “Holiday Weight.” Maybe it is a cookie here or some Halloween candy there. But the problem is that food is as big a part of the holidays as pumpkins, music and decorations. Luckily for all of us holiday eaters there is a new study that shows that tea helps to slow down weight gain when we eat high fat foods.

The study revolves around 3 Blind Mice (ok, maybe just a bunch of mice)

Researchers took two sets of rotund, overweight mice and did a study. In one group they fed the mice a high fat diet. In the second group they fed the mice the same high fat diet, but supplemented them with EGCG.

The Group with EGCG was the Biggest Loser

The EGCG group gained weight 45% more slowly than the non-EGCG group. And, in addition to that, the EGCG group had an increase in lipids that were a sign that their bodies were limiting the amount of fat they absorbed.

EGCG is abundant in tea

We’ve all heard that tea is good for us through a gazillion studies. Well, most of those studies are based on a compound called EGCG. In a nutshell, EGCG helps to prevent cancer and a ton of other illnesses. And now researchers are saying that EGCG also helps in weight loss and prevention.

The Study was also performed by Penn State University

A lot of information that is floating around is either folklore (grandma’s chicken soup) or based off of foreign studies. What makes this study so profound is that an American University did it.

Conclusion

While these are studies done on animals, the signs are pointing toward the fact that tea is good for keeping your weight down, as well as possibly shedding some lbs. And it just isn’t the tea world that is saying this, but also the Research Author: "Our results suggest that if you supplement with green tea you gain weight more slowly," said research author Joshua Lambert. "There seems to be two prongs to this," Lambert said. "First, EGCG reduces the ability to absorb fat and, second, it enhances the ability to use fat."

P.S – Another conclusion by the study is that EGCG does not appear to affect your appetite. This is good news for us who like to stuff ourselves full of cookies and, um, justify it by drinking a bunch of tea! Research link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2045458/Green-tea-slow-weight-gain--youre-fat.html

Photo: www.flickr.com/photos/cleverocity/952695596/