green tea, EGCG and weight loss

JoshSmith — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 01:41:37 +0000

Effects of Catechin Enriched Green Tea on Body Composition

Obesity (2009) doi:10.1038/oby.2009.256

Hongqiang Wang¹, Yibo Wen¹, Yaping Du¹, Xiuyuan Yan¹, Hongwei Guo², Jane A. Rycroft³, Niels Boon⁴, Eva M.R. Kovacs⁴ and David J. Mela⁴Received 30 October 2008; Accepted 2 July 2009; Published online 13 August 2009.

Obesity is a major health problem in the developed and developing world. Many “functional” foods and ingredients are advocated for their effects on body composition but few have consistent scientific support for their efficacy. However, an increasing amount of mechanistic and clinical evidence is building for green tea (GT). This experiment was therefore undertaken to study the effects of a high-catechin GT on body composition in a moderately overweight Chinese population. In a randomized placebo-controlled trial, 182 moderately overweight Chinese subjects, consumed either two servings of a control drink (C; 30 mg catechins, 10 mg caffeine/day), one serving of the control drink and one serving of an extra high-catechin GT1 (458 mg catechins, 104 mg caffeine/day), two servings of a high-catechin GT2 (468 mg catechins, 126 mg caffeine/day) or two servings of the extra high-catechin GT3 (886 mg catechins, 198 mg caffeine/day) for 90 days. Data were collected at 0, 30, 60, and 90 days. We observed a decrease in estimated intra-abdominal fat (IAF) area of 5.6 cm² in the GT3 group. In addition, we found decreases of 1.9 cm in waist circumference and 1.2 kg body weight in the GT3 group vs. C (P < 0.05). We also observed reductions in total body fat (GT2, 0.7 kg, P < 0.05) and body fat % (GT1, 0.6%, P < 0.05). We conclude that consumption of two servings of an extra high-catechin GT leads to improvements in body composition and reduces abdominal fatness in moderately overweight Chinese subjects.

“What an interesting study! The moral of the story here is that ingesting 400-800 mg of EGCG per day results in a reduction of weight and waist. An additional insight here is that majority of individuals who lose weight (more than 10 lbs) will gain it all back in 5 years. The secret is to have a long term contingency plan that will help you keep the weight off. My recommendation is to use one Peach Cream, one Muscle Pump and a Beauty Tea each day!” – Josh Smith

Protecting your skin: an inside out approach with EGCG

JoshSmith — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 19:45:51 +0000

Skin photoprotection by green tea: antioxidant and immunomodulatory effects.

Curr Drug Targets Immune Endocr Metabol Disord. 2003 Sep;3(3):234-42.Department of Dermatology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294, USA.

Because of a characteristic aroma and health benefits, green tea is consumed worldwide as a popular beverage. The epicatechin derivatives, commonly called polyphenols, present in green tea possess antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-carcinogenic properties. The major and most highly chemopreventive constituent in green tea responsible for the biochemical or pharmacological effects is (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG). Epidemiological, clinical and biological studies have implicated that solar ultraviolet (UV) light is a complete carcinogen and repeated exposure can lead to the development of various skin disorders including melanoma and nonmelanoma skin cancers. We and others have shown that topical treatment or oral consumption of green tea polyphenols (GTP) inhibit chemical carcinogen- or UV radiation-induced skin carcinogenesis in different laboratory animal models. Topical treatment of GTP and EGCG or oral consumption of GTP resulted in prevention of UVB-induced inflammatory responses, immunosuppression and oxidative stress, which are the biomarkers of several skin disease states. Topical application of GTP and EGCG prior to exposure of UVB protects against UVB-induced local as well as systemic immune suppression in laboratory animals, which was associated with the inhibition of UVB-induced infiltration of inflammatory leukocytes. Prevention of UVB-induced suppression of immune responses by EGCG was also associated with the reduction in immunosuppressive cytokine interleukin (IL)-10 production at UV irradiated skin and draining lymph nodes, whereas IL-12 production was significantly enhanced in draining lymph nodes. Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of green tea were also observed in human skin. Treatment of EGCG to human skin resulted in the inhibition of UVB-induced erythema, oxidative stress and infiltration of inflammatory leukocytes. We also showed that treatment of GTP to human skin prevents UVB-induced cyclobutane pyrimidine dimers formation, which are considered to be mediators of UVB-induced immune suppression and skin cancer induction. The in vitro and in vivo animal and human studies suggest that green tea polyphenols are photoprotective in nature, and can be used as pharmacological agents for the prevention of solar UVB light-induced skin disorders including photoaging, melanoma and nonmelanoma skin cancers after more clinical trials in humans.

The conclusion of this study suggests that taking a bath in green tea may in fact act in the prevention of different skin disorders, I’m adding the taking a bath in green tea part, but you get the idea. The best way is actually consuming The Beauty Tea by GreenTeaHP! Consuming one pixie daily will give you the benefits you need from the inside out! – Josh Smith

Green Tea Hp » beauty tea

green tea, EGCG and weight loss

Protecting your skin: an inside out approach with EGCG