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best way to take green tea
Posted in:
Ask the Experts
| May 11, 2009
I’m interested in using green tea to lose weight and promote
metabolic health. What is the best way to take green tea to get the
most benefit?
A greater interest and awareness in the potential of
green tea
to promote health and prevent disease is underscored by the increased
amount of research money dedicated to understanding the biological
effects of the bioactive components of green tea. Collectively these
studies show green tea to be associated with a wide range of biological
effects that improve health. The bioactive polyphenolic compounds in
green tea account for a third of the dry weight of the leaves. The
predominant polyphenol are the catechins and include epicatechin,
epicatechin-3-gallate, epigallocatechin, and epigallocatechin-3-gallate
(EGCG). Most research has focused on EGCG as the predominant active
ingredient. In terms of
the best way to take green tea,
there has been some research that addressed this question. For example,
if you drink green tea, there can be a great deal of variability in the
content of bioactive compounds including EGCG depending on how the tea
leaves were processed prior to drying, the geographic location and
growing conditions, the tea type (decaffeinated, instant, etc.), and
preparation method (amount used, brew time, temperature). Because of
these “unknowns†I think supplements that contain standardized extracts
of EGCG are a good option. The effective doses are not known for sure
but the studies showing beneficial effects in humans used 270 mg EGCG
divided into 3 equal doses of 90 mg at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. In
fact, one recent study actually showed that supplements were better
than tea. The study compared the effects of
green tea,
black tea, and a
green tea extract
in pill form that all contained the same amount of the flavanol EGCG.
Despite containing the same amount of EGCG, the absorption of total
plasma flavanols into the blood after ingestion of the green tea
extract supplement was far superior to the liquid teas. The green tea
extract also led to higher antioxidant activity in the blood. Another
recent study also found that ingesting supplements containing green tea
catechins in the fasted state without food led to greater
bioavailability compared to ingesting them with food.
-- answer by: Jeff Volek.
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