Can Green Tea Help You Lose Weight?

Dieters are always searching for The Holy Grail of weight loss—a substance that melts fat effortlessly. As a result, ads for miracle pills and potions are everywhere. But it’s pretty obvious that if any of these products worked, there wouldn’t be an obesity epidemic. Recently, though, there’s evidence that a chemical found in ordinary green tea, epigallocatechin gallate, may offer a bit of weight loss magic. Since repeating that name is pretty challenging, let’s just call it EGCG for short.

Green Tea Basics

Green tea (Camellia sinensis) has been used for centuries in Asian countries. Unlike black teas, which are made with fermented leaves, green tea is produced by steaming fresh leaves. This production process results in higher content of polyphenols like EGCG, which is a flavonol. Black tea has 3-10% polyphenols, while green tea has 30-40%.