Green Tea Extract: Is It Good For The Gut And Good For Your Weight?

Let’s talk about weight loss and green tea extract.

Right now, the research is a mixed bag. Some studies say that green tea works well to drive down inflammation, help repair leaky gut, and improve insulin sensitivity. Other studies say green tea doesn’t do any of those things.

A lot of the green tea studies involve mice, and the results haven’t been replicated in humans
In one study of male mice, they put half on a high-fat diet, something akin to the ketogenic diet, and the other half on a standard mouse diet. The high-fat diet had green tea extract mixed into it. Over time, the group that received the green tea lost 20% more weight than the other group.

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What isn’t clear is how much green tea extract was included in the diet. For all I know, it could be the human equivalent of having thirty cups of green tea or half a pound of green tea powder a day. That’s not a very realistic approach to weight loss. I think about one or two cups of green tea a day would be my limit.

Of course, you can’t look at a study of mice and directly extrapolate to humans. It possible that they share some effects, but it needs to confirmed by testing in humans.

Green tea is one of the many very healthy teas. Oolong tea, Lapsong Suchong, and Jasmine tea are all excellent options. Green tea has a very high flavonoid profile, meaning that it has high antioxidant activity. It’s a superb tea to drink once or twice a day, but I don’t think it’s the nirvana of weight loss. No one is going to lose 100 pounds by merely drinking green tea.

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