Can Drinking Tea Actually Aid Weight Loss?

Herbal tea has a wide range of benefits. The confirmed benefits of green tea, for example, include reducing your chances of getting cancer and lowering the likelihood that you will suffer from heart problems. If you suffer from IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) or other stomach complaints then scientists have shown that drinking peppermint tea can help reduce any feeling of bloating and discomfort. Both green tea and peppermint tea are promoted as being an aid to weight loss too. But is there any evidence to support this? Can drinking tea actually aid weight loss?

Can Green Tea and Peppermint Tea Help You Lose Weight?

Green tea is the most popular tea choice for those wishing to lose weight, or maintain their weight. However the findings on whether green tea can actually help you lose weight are conflicted. The biggest myth (often presented as fact) about green tea is that it can help raise your metabolism. Celebrities such as Sophie Dahl and Victoria Beckham have credited green tea with aiding their weight loss, and said that it was because of it’s metabolistic affect: but there is no evidence to support this. Similarly, much of the benefits of peppermint tea are based on individual evidence, or trials with very small numbers of participants. There have been very few human trials on the health benefits of peppermint tea, and nothing that has shown that it can cause weight loss. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t healthy benefits to drinking tea: In 2006, a study published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that tea is a healthier choice than almost any beverage, including water.

Detox and Weight Loss Teas

There are a wide range of teas on the markets specifically aimed at weight loss and detoxing. The ingredients most commonly found in popular brands of detox tea include: Goji Berries, Sencha, Yerba Mate, Nettle Leaf, Jasmine, Ashwaganda Root, Lemon Grass & Celery Leaf. Some of these ingredients have a laxative affect which, in the short term, could prove an aid to weight loss. But obviously, weight loss in this way in unhealthy and unsustainable. Goji berries are also purported as being a key aid to weight loss amongst the diet industry: but there is no real empirical evidence to prove that these aid weight loss either. According to Licensed Prescriptions, it is a myth that detoxing will help you lose weight. They state that “despite millions of people embarking on detox plans every January, there’s still no evidence that they actually do any good…While herbal teas and vegan smoothies won’t do you any harm and may well provide you with valuable minerals and nutrients, they certainly won’t detoxify your body.” This conclusion is supported by fitness magazine Men’s Health, who also support the 2006 European Journal of Clinical Nutrition and assert that whilst tea is a healthy alternative to sugary energy drinks and soda, it isn’t a magical solution to weight loss: only diet and exercise can really provide any considerable aid to weight loss.

Tea, or Other Factors?

It seems, then, that whilst tea has many health benefits, weight loss in isolation isn’t amongst them. The strongest evidence to support this assertion comes from the Japanese island of Okinawa. Okinawan tea is a kind of green tea drunk by the inhabitants of this island, and the latest weight loss tea craze. The people who live on this island have been found to have one of the highest life expectancies in the world. Until recently the island had few problems with obesity. However experts believe this phenomenal good health is down to a number of factors including low levels of stress, regular activity into old age and a diet that includes plenty of fish, vegetables and soya. The fact that they are slim and live long lives is due to much more than the fact that they drink green tea! That their lifestyle can be attributed to more than tea is compounded by the fact that as a more Western way of life is being adopted on the island (the increase of junk food and a sedentary lifestyle in front of the TV, for example) obesity is becoming an increasing problem on the island, regardless of their tea drinking habits! So if you’re looking to lose weight, unfortunately you need to combine diet and exercise with drinking your favorite daily brew!

*Guest Author: Lisa Richards; Graduate in Food and Nutritional Sciences.