Medical Facts about the Green Tea Diet
Saturday, December 5th, 2009As with so many overnight success stories, the Perricone Prescription — also known as the green tea diet or the Oprah green tea diet — came to the world’s attention on the Oprah Winfrey Show. Oprah’s guest was the highly respected Dr. Nicholas Perricone, author of numerous books, including the Perricone Prescription that detailed the medical research behind the amazing fat burning properties of green tea and green tea extract.
During his appearance on the Oprah Winfrey Show, Dr. Perricone alleged that replacing coffee with green tea could help a dieter lose 10 pounds in 6 weeks. Incredulous as it sounds, is it really possible to lose weight with green tea alone? According to Dr. Perricone (and we have found numerous medical research studies back this up), green tea and green tea extract contain phytonutrients that perform at least 3 functions in the body that boost weight loss.
1. Green tea regulates blood sugar and insulin levels. Quick spikes of insulin signal the body to store fat. As Dr. Perricone puts it, “elevated insulin puts a lock on body fat.” Coffee, on the other hand, contains an ingredient that raises blood sugar and, in turn, insulin levels. Green tea regulates blood sugar itself, precluding the production of surplus insulin. “If you do nothing else but substitute coffee with green tea, your insulin levels will drop and you will lose weight,” says Dr. Perricone.
2. Green tea promotes metabolism. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition published a medical research study in which metabolism rates rose by 4% in a 24 hour period. A chemical in green tea elevates thermogenic activity in the body (which is the rate at which your body burns calories). This phytonutrient also raises levels of oxidation of body fat (burning of fat cells).
3. Green tea trims appetite. Weight loss of 21% of body weight was noted in laboratory rats in a University of Chicago study. The researchers concluded that the fat loss was due to significant loss of appetite and reduced food intake. While Dr. Perricone has not mentioned appetite suppression as a benefit of green tea, a few other studies have also asserted this theory.
Green tea and green tea extract (the extract is simply a concentrated form of the effective ingredients in green tea) provide many other health benefits, which may not directly influence weight loss, but which are excellent disease preventatives. Green tea has been found to lower cholesterol levels, lower high blood pressure, prevent a variety of cancers and prevent or repair liver impairment.
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