Green tea for the best weight loss?

Preliminary research links green tea in reducing risk for cancer and heart disease, now marketers has also been promoting it as a weight loss remedy. Two research studies reveal that a daily intake of the tea burns extra calories, however, the slight increase in metabolism appear to be more of a result from the tea's caffeine rather than the tea itself.

Tea IS breaking tradition lately, particularly green tea, which is finding its way into foods like green-tea braised scallops, sesame green tea noodles, and green tea ice cream. Its popularity has no doubt taken off as a result of preliminary research linking it to a reduced risk for cancer and heart disease. But marketers have found yet another way to promote tea-as a weight loss remedy. Especially now that the herbal supplement ephedra is being scrutinized by the Food and Drug Administration for its potential dangers and links to several deaths, advertisers are touting green tea as a safe, natural, "ephedra-free" fat burner.

Even brands that used to contain ephedra are using that tactic to draw people in, hoping to capitalize on brand recognition. Green tea-containing supplements like Dexatrim Natural Green Tea Formula, Xenadrine EFX, and Metabolift claim to "produce unprecedented fat-burning result[s]," "control your appetite," "increase your body's metabolism to burn more fat and calories," and "boost your energy, so your lower-calorie diet won't get you down." Mainstream marketers are getting into the act, too. One-a-Day recently launched Weight Smart, a multivitamin and mineral tablet with green tea extract to help "keep your metabolism going strong."

Two small pieces of research are at the center of these claims. In a 1999 Swiss study, six out of 10 men taking capsules of green tea extract burned, on average, about an extra 80 calories a day-the equivalent of 3 tablespoons of ice cream, 7 potato chips, or 1 Dunkin' Donuts Munchkin. A second study, conducted by researchers from the US Department of Agriculture, saw an extra 67 calories a day burned in men who were assigned to drink about 5 cups of tea (not green) each day.

On the surface, it sounds like there might be something to it. After all, an extra 70 to 80 calories burned per day can add up to 7 to 8 pounds over a year's time. But before paying almost $17 for One-a-Day's Weight Smart compared with less than $7 for a standard, store-brand multivitamin and mineral supplement, recognize that the studies measured the calories the men burned but not whether they lost any weight. It can't be concluded that a small increase in metabolism "that could easily be undone by eating a single cookie or a handful of chips" would lead to a shedding of pounds, says Jeffrey Blumberg, PhD, a senior scientist at Tufts University who has studied tea and its potential health benefits.

Beverly Clevidence, PhD, the Department of Agriculture investigator, said that despite her study findings, she also would not recommend tea as a means to lose weight, in no small part because the slight increase in metabolism that led to extra calories burned appeared to be more a result of the tea's caffeine rather than the tea itself. Indeed, some of these products contain high levels of caffeine. But, according to Dr. Blumberg, "if caffeine could solve the obesity problem, Americans-who are among the biggest consumers of caffeine in the world-would not be grappling with excess weight."

While caffeine is not going to help your weight loss efforts, it could make you jumpy. Dexatrim Natural Green Tea Formula, for instance, has 50 milligrams per capsule, and the directions are to take three capsules a day. That's at least the caffeine dose of an extra cup of coffee-enough to put some people over the jittery edge.

Even if there were some inherent component of green tea that could increase calorie burning, a tea-containing capsule you buy at the drugstore is unlikely to be the same product used by scientists. The amount of green tea in a One-a-Day tablet is one tenth the amount used in the Swiss study.

Of course, you can always try drinking 5 cups of tea a day, as in the USDA study. But you'd burn 80 calories in less time by taking a 20-minute walk.