Green Tea Helps Fight Against Obesity

Penn State food scientists have found that green tea may slow down weight gain and serve as another tool in the fight against obesity.

Mice that were fed Epigallocatechin-3-gallate — EGCG — a compound found in most green teas, along with a high-fat diet, gained weight 45 per cent more slowly than the control group of mice eating the same diet without EGCG.

“Our results suggest that if you supplement with EGCG or green tea you gain weight more slowly,” said Joshua Lambert, assistant professor of food science in agricultural sciences.

In addition to lower weight gain, the mice fed the green tea supplement showed a nearly 30 percent increase in fecal lipids, suggesting that the EGCG was limiting fat absorption, according to Lambert.

“There seems to be two prongs to this, first, EGCG reduces the ability to absorb fat and, second, it enhances the ability to use fat,” he said.

The findings were reported in the current online version of Obesity.