If you’re like us, you’re majorly skeptical of marketing hype and unsubstantiated claims. Unfortunately, when it comes to tea, there’s a lot of just that. Diet pill makers and weight loss supplement companies everywhere promote tea (especially green tea) as a “weight loss miracle” that will allow you to effortlessly shed the pounds.

Are any of these claims backed by scientific proof? We made it our mission to find out. Fortunately for us, we didn’t have to look that hard as there have been a plethora of scientific and medical studies done on tea and weight loss. Let’s take a look at a few of the more important ones.

Weight Loss and Tea : Animal Studies

The majority of scientific studies are done on animals before proceeding to human tests. Of course one of the major drawbacks of animal testing (besides the pain caused to the animal) is that results vary between animals and humans. Still, animal studies are a good indicator of human results and remain an unfortunate part of science.

Animal Study #1
Lab mice of approximate age/weight were divided into five groups and fed a high-fat diet. One of the groups received green tea extract, another group received green tea extract and exercise, and the rest of the groups received varying levels of exercise with no green tea extract.

After 15 weeks of experimentation, researchers found that simply taking green tea extract alone caused a 47% reduction in body weight gain. The effect was greatly multiplied with exercise with a stunning 89% reduction in weight gain.

Study Conclusion: Green tea burns fat and is especially effective when combined with exercise.
View Study

Animal Study #2
To test the anti-obesity properties of green tea, a group of lab rats were given green tea instead of drinking water for three weeks. Scientists noted that green tea reduced the weight of the animals' fat tissue without any change in food or water intake. Tea also significantly reduced cholesterol and fatty acid levels.

Study Conclusion: Green tea promotes fat burning and reduces cholesterol
View Study

Animal Study #3
Lab rats and mice were put on high-fat diets, with some given the most abundant green tea catechin, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), in a pure form. The study showed for the first time that supplementation with EGCG, “influenced fat tissue” and abolished diet-induced obesity.”

Study Conclusion: “EGCG should be considered as a valuable natural treatment option for obesity.”
View Study

Weight Loss and Tea : Human Studies

Although there aren’t any long term studies about tea and weight loss, the studies that have been done are extremely promising.

Human Study #1
Thirty-eight healthy Japanese men were divided into two groups and fed the same diet. One group consumed a bottle of tea containing 690 mg catechin antioxidants per day. After 12 weeks, body weight, BMI, waist circumference, body fat mass, and subcutaneous fat area were significantly lower in the green tea extract group than in the control group.

Study Conclusion: Catechin antioxidants in green tea reduce body fat and help control obesity.
View Study

Human Study #2
Ten healthy Japanese men were randomly assigned to receive a dose of green tea extract plus caffeine, just caffeine, or a placebo. On the days the men received the dose of green tea extract plus caffeine, they expended significantly more energy and burned more calories than on the days they received just caffeine or placebo.

Study Conclusion: Green tea contains ingredients (besides caffeine) that stimulate thermogenesis and burn fat.
View Study