Green tea is consumed primarily in China, Japan, and a few countries in North Africa and the Middle East. In many Japanese or Chinese restaurants, one of the dessert options is green tea ice cream. In recent years green tea has become popular in Europe and North America and now green tea pills are touted for weight loss, as potent antioxidants, and for tumor prevention. What does the research say about the benefits of green tea pills? Do green tea supplements help with weight loss and are they an effective diet aid?
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Green Tea Extract, 100 mg, yielding 35 mg EGCG - Source Naturals
Diet Rx with green tea extract for appetite suppression

Green Tea Extract offers a convenient way to get the benefits of green tea in a highly concentrated green tea pill form. This green tea extract is standardized for bioflavonoid-like antioxidants known as polyphenols, particularly Epigallocatechin Gallate (EGCG).  EGCG has been found in scientific studies to be a potent antioxidant. Green tea antioxidants are likely to become more popular with time.

Green Tea Supplement Facts
Calcium
Green Tea Extract Yielding 35 mg epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG)

Suggested Use: 1 green tea extract tablet a few times a week with breakfast or lunch. Take a green tea extract pill in the morning or midday before or with a meal. Evening use may lead to mild insomnia.

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Diet Rx with green tea extract
This natural appetite suppressant works without stimulants. Diet Rx has no added caffeine, ephedra, ephedrine alkaloids, synephrine, hormones, guarana, ginseng, or stimulating amino acids. 

Benefits of Diet Rx with green tea extract
All natural appetite suppressant, decreases appetite so you eat less
Helps you maintain healthy blood sugar levels
Helps you maintain healthy cholesterol and lipid levels
Provides a variety of antioxidant from two dozen herbs and nutrients
Provides healthy fiber
Improves energy
Balances mood
Improves mental concentration and focus
Improves will power and choice of food selection

What's in green tea?
Fresh green tea leaf is unusually rich in polyphenols which may constitute up to 30% of the dry leaf weight. Polyphenols include catechins, flavanols, chlorogenic acid, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), and one unique to tea, theogallin. Caffeine in green tea is present at an average level of 3% along with very small amounts of methylxanthines, theobromine and theophylline. The amino acid theanine (5-N-ethylglutamine) is also unique to tea.

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Health benefit of green tea extract
Human research is still very early, but the potential health benefits ascribed to green tea include antioxidant effects, cancer chemoprevention, antiviral effects, blood thinning properties, improving cardiovascular health, slowing mental decline, enhancing weight loss, arthritis protection, and protecting the skin from the damage caused by ionizing radiation. The compound EGCG found in green tea extract has been shown to regulate dozens of disease-specific molecular targets. Long term human research is required before we determine the appropriate dosage and amount of green tea or green tea extract required to provide these health benefits.

Green tea and weight loss - green tea diet - is green tea a fat burner?
Green tea consumption is reportedly associated with various health-promoting properties. For example, it has been shown to promote fat oxidation in humans at rest and to prevent obesity and improve insulin sensitivity in mice.
   Human studies regarding the benefit of green tea in weight loss have not shown consistent results. In one study mentioned below, daily consumption of green tea for 12 weeks reduced body fat. Green tea could enhance metabolism. Scientists are still evaluating whether a green tea pill by itself leads to weight loss. See below for more green tea and weight loss research information. If you plan to drink green tea for weight loss, avoid drinking after mid afternoon or early evening so that your sleep is not disturbed.

Anti-obesity effects of green tea: from bedside to bench.
Mol Nutr Food Res. 2006 Feb;50(2):176-87. DSM Nutritional Products, Department of Human Nutrition and Health, Basel, Switzerland.
Green tea, green tea catechins, and epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) have been demonstrated in cell culture and animal models of obesity to reduce adipocyte differentiation and proliferation, lipogenesis, fat mass, body weight, fat absorption, plasma levels of triglycerides, free fatty acids, cholesterol, glucose, insulin and leptin, as well as to increase beta-oxidation and thermogenesis. Adipose tissue, liver, intestine, and skeletal muscle are target organs of green tea, mediating its anti-obesity effects. Studies conducted with human subjects report reduced body weight and body fat, as well as increased fat oxidation and thermogenesis and thereby confirm findings in cell culture systems and animal models of obesity. There is still a need for well-designed and controlled clinical studies to validate the existing and encouraging human studies.

Ingestion of a tea rich in catechins leads to a reduction in body fat and malondialdehyde-modified LDL in men.
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 81, No. 1, 122-129, January 2005
Catechins, the major component of green tea extract, have various physiologic effects. There are few studies, however, on the effects of catechins on body fat reduction in humans. We investigated the effect of catechins from green tea on body fat reduction and the relation between oxidized LDL and body fat variables. Design: After a 2-wk diet run-in period, healthy Japanese men were divided into 2 groups with similar BMI and waist circumference distributions. A 12-wk double-blind study was performed in which the subjects ingested 1 bottle oolong tea /d containing 690 mg catechins (green tea extract group; n = 17) or 1 bottle oolong tea /d containing 22 mg catechins (control group; n = 18). Results: Body weight, BMI, waist circumference, body fat mass, and subcutaneous fat area were significantly lower in the green tea extract group than in the control group. Conclusion: Daily consumption of green tea containing 690 mg catechins for 12 wk reduced body fat, which suggests that the ingestion of catechins from green tea might be useful in the prevention and improvement of lifestyle-related diseases, mainly obesity.

Effect of long-term oral administration of green tea extract on weight gain and glucose tolerance in Zucker diabetic (ZDF) rats.
J Herb Pharmacother. 2005;5(3):55-65. Botanical Center in Vivo Care, 700 West State St, West Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA.
There have been some claims that green tea reduces weight and lowers blood glucose in diabetes. Intraperitoneal injections of green tea catechins in diabetic rats have shown beneficial effects. To determine if oral administration of green tea would prevent development of diabetes, young Zucker diabetic rats were dosed with green tea extract containing 50-125 mg/kg of Epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) starting at 7 weeks of age, before the appearance of excessive weight gain and glucose elevation. While there was a trend toward lower weight gain and average daily glucose, there was no statistically significant difference.

Best green tea diet supplement
There are a number of green tea diet supplements on the market, and since no studies have been done comparing all of them, it is impossible to say honestly which one of these products is the best green tea diet supplement.

Green tea extract and blood sugar
It does not appear that green tea has much of an influence on blood sugar levels. However, this does not mean it is not beneficial to those with diabetes. Since green tea extract has has potent polyphenol antioxidants, drinking green tea or taking a green tea extract may be helpful in terms of overall antioxidant status in the body. However, green tea extract may reduce collagen cross linking which is often a consequence of high blood sugar levels.

Additional health benefits of green tea
Green tea has several potential health benefits that are slowly being discovered, here are some preliminary results:

Anti aging benefit of drinking green tea
According to a study done with Japanese adults, those who consumed the most green tea were less likely to die from cardiovascular disease or any other cause, except cancer, than were the less-frequent green tea drinkers. Dr. Kuriyama and colleagues analyzed information on 40,530 Japanese adults, 40 to 79 years old, who participated in the Ohsaki National Health Insurance Cohort Study. The subjects, who were followed an 11 year period from 1995 to 2005, were from a northeastern region of the country where most of the adults drink green tea three or more times per day. Adults who drank the most green tea were the least likely to die from cardiovascular disease. Men who consumed at least five cups of green tea each day were 12 percent less likely to die from any cause. Whereas, women who drank five or more cups of green tea each day were 23 percent less likely to die from any cause and 31 percent less likely to die from cardiovascular disease.   
   Comments: For the time being, if you don't drink green tea, it may be a good idea to have a cup a day or a few times a week. If you already drink green tea on a daily basis, you could perhaps add another dup a day. It's also possible that drinking a variety of teas may provide more benefit than just drinking additional green tea. Who's to say other herbal teas (and there are so many to choose from) are not as healthy as green tea? Another option is to take a green tea extract supplement a few times a week. Avoid the use of the tea or the supplement after mid afternoon since the caffeine and stimulants may interfere with sleep. One factor to consider is that this study was done in Japan. Americans have a different diet and lifestyle. Will green tea have similar benefits in those on a Western diet? Probably, but we can't say for sure.

Green tea as antioxidant
Green tea extract capsules, when given to humans, increase the production of such as glutathione S-transferase (GST) enzymes which are helpful in detoxification and cancer prevention. Dr. H.-H. Sherry Chow, of the University of Arizona, Tucson, gave volunteers four green tea extract capsules, each containing 200 mg of epigallocatechin gallate, every morning prior to eating. This provided the equivalent amount of epigallocatechin gallate obtained from drinking 8 to 16 cups of green tea daily. Those with the lowest GST levels at the start of the study and who took the green tea extracts were found to have glutathione S-transferase enzymes increased by 80 percent. Those who had good levels of glutathione S-transferase did not have much of a change in their levels. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, August 2007.

Anti viral activity
Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) has been suggested to have antiviral activity. To determine the effects of EGCG on HIV infection, peripheral blood lymphocytes infected with HIV were incubated with increasing concentrations of EGCG. EGCG strongly inhibited the replication of the HIV virus.

Anti platelet activity
Anti-platelet (blood thinning) benefit of green tea catechins is mediated by inhibition of cytoplasmic calcium increase.

Green tea extract for arthritis and healthy joints
Some green tea catechins are chondroprotective (protecting cartilage) in lab studies, and that consumption of green tea may benefit the arthritis patient by reducing inflammation and slowing cartilage breakdown. Further studies will be required to determine whether these compounds access the joint space in sufficient concentration and in a form capable of providing efficacy when ingested as tea or capsule.

Green tea for cancer
Several compounds in green tea have anti cancer potential.

   Pancreatic cancer -  In mouse studies, green tea extract EGCG inhibits pancreatic cancer growth, invasion, metastasis and angiogenesis. Human studies will elucidate whether green tea extract could be used for the management of pancreatic cancer prevention and treatment.

Green tea and diabetes
Drinking green tea or taking a green tea supplements does not seem to have a major role to play in lowering blood sugar, but the antioxidant effects of green tea are nevertheless beneficial for those with diabetes. Green tea may reduce advanced glycation end products and reduce the rate of collagen cross linking.

Green tea for heart health
Green tea has preventive effects on both chronic inflammatory diseases and lifestyle-related diseases including cardiovascular disease.

Green tea for lung health
Flavanol (-)epigallocatechin-3-gallate is shown to be a potent natural inhibitor of leukocyte elastase that may be used to reduce elastase-mediated progression to emphysema.

More about green tea
Tea is the most widely consumed beverage aside from water. Green tea contains polyphenolic compounds, which account for 30% of the dry weight of the leaves. Most of the polyphenols are flavanols, of which (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) is the most abundant. Tea is manufactured in three basic forms:

Black Tea -- During black tea production, oxidation is promoted so that most of these substances are oxidized.
Green tea -- Green tea is prepared in such a way as to prevent the oxidation of green leaf polyphenols.
Oolong tea --  Oolong tea is a partially oxidized product. Of the approximately 3 million metric tons of dried tea manufactured, only 20% is green tea and less than 2% is oolong tea.

Green tea caffeine content - does green tea have caffeine?
There are hundreds of types of green tea and countless green tea growing farms. Each batch of green tea will have a slightly different caffeine amount. In addition to caffeine, green tea has beneficial compounds mostly of the polyphenol class.

Study in Portugal regarding caffeine content of green tea
A study done in Portugal evaluating various types of green tea found the caffeine content in green tea ranged between 140 to 340 mg per liter.

Green Tea side effects
A common green tea side effect is shallow sleep. Green tea has caffeine and methylxanthines, so avoid drinking or taking the capsules in the evening. We have not come across any other common green tea side effects at this time except this one caution:

Caution: In rare cases extracts from green tea have been reported to adversely affect the liver. Discontinue use and consult a healthcare practitioner if you have a liver disorder or develop symptoms of liver trouble, such as abdominal pain, dark urine, or jaundice. If you plan to take green tea extract for prolonged periods, take a week off each month.

Q. I have a question about the recent decision to put warning labels on supplements containing green tea extracts. it
warns of possible liver damage. Are there supplements derived from green tea extracts which will not be easily identifiable by their labels? For example if a supplement was advertised to contain "antioxidants" how would the consumer know if it contained the dangerous chemical compound in the green tea study?
   A. The study that found green tea extract polyphenols may damage liver tissue used high doses injected into small mammals. Many Japanese drink green tea several cups a day without problems. I am not concerned that taking a green tea supplement at one capsule or tablet a few times a week would cause any liver problems. As with any supplement, it is a good idea to take breaks from use. Low dosages of many supplements are often of benefit, but high dosages could be harmful.

Q. I read an article about green tea extract. The article made several claims regarding the benefits of green tea and green tea extract. Can you confirm or deny these claims. The article claims green tea cuts the risk for cancer due to the polyphenol antioxidants. It claims green tea reduces blood pressure by keeping blood vessels dilated. It says green tea helps memory and reduces the risk for Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. And, green tea speeds up the body's calorie-burning process and helps you lose weight.
   A. Laboratory studies have shown green tea has anti cancer potential, whether long term human studies will confirm this finding has yet to be determined. Green tea may have a slight benefit for blood pressure unless perhaps used in high amounts. Compounds in green tea may protect brain cells but it is too early to tell if drinking green tea or taking green tea extract supplements prevent or treat Alzheimer's disease or Parkinson's disease. Green tea extract may have slight thermogenic activity and may have some appetite suppressing activity that could lead to a slight weight loss.

Additional web sites of interest
Alternative medicine topics regarding the natural treatment of different health conditions.
Ginkgo biloba brain herb for improved mental health and function.
Glucosamine arthritis joint health improvement supplements and formulas.
Goji berry fruit health benefits, including improvement in vision
Herbal herb information on various herbs used in natural medicine.
Tribulus terrestris extract for improved sexual function
Ray Sahelian, M.D. web site for various medical and health issues including health benefit of green tea extract.

Green tea extract EGCG questions
Q. There's been a lot of talk about EGCG lately, the extract from green tea. I see supplements of EGCG being sold in high dosages. Are these safe to take?
   A. Green tea is hot these days (no pun intended). Consumers are switching from regular tea to green tea and other herbal teas. We are not big fans of taking large doses of isolated substances from herbs, such as a high amount of EGCG, preferring to take the whole powder or a less concentrated extract. Many people think the higher the dose of a substance they supplement, the healthier they will be, but that may not always be the case, and often is not the case. So, for the time being, we don't see the need to take a high dose of EGCG unless perhaps under medically supervised treatment for a health condition.

Q. Can you possibly tell me how many mg of caffeine would be in 50 mg of green tea (leaf) extract?
   A. This is impossible to say accurately since there are countless extract potencies of green tea and countless varieties of green tea leaf and herb. The level of caffeine could vary significantly between different extracts, growers, processors, and manufacturers.

Q. In regards to the green tea issue: I had been drinking 2 to 4 cups of green tea for about ten years, mostly organic
and de-caf. Last year I found out about the fluoride issue and also found out that green tea contains fluoride. During this time I was also drinking bottled water (I was concerned about possible lead in the water) and eating a good diet, mostly organic. I had no major health problems, just annoying sinus problems which would turn into infections several times/year. I did however have a lowered white cell count during this time (3.8-4.2) Then I developed sleep problems about 3 years ago and tried just about everything for them. I gave up drinking green tea last year (still have a cup of coffee with caffeine). Not only have my sleep problems ceased, but my white cell count is back to normal. I still can't believe the results but I still won't go back to drinking green tea. I did the research and I must be sensitive
to fluoride.
   A. Green tea, even decaf, has many compounds in it, such as catechins, that cause alertness. Drinking two to four cups of green tea a day will likely cause shallow sleep and at this time we are not convinced that it is the fluoride causing it.

Gum arabic is also known as acacia gum. Gum Arabic is obtained from the Acacia tree.
Gynostemma pentaphyllum herb health benefit
Gypenosides are saponins extract derived from Gynostemma pentaphyllum.