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Tea consumption and body composition

Nutrition Research Newsletter, Oct, 2003

Oolong tea extract is thought to enhance noradrenaline-induced lipolysis in adipose tissue and inhibit pancreatic lipase activity, therefore suggesting an anti-obesity action of tea consumption. Whether these experimental findings could be extrapolated into the change of percent body fat (BF%) in humans is questionable. Tea has also been proven to express a cardiovascular-protective and lipid-lowering effect. In the present study, an epidemiologically sampled Chinese cohort who habitually consumed tea was assessed. Bioelectrical Impedance (BIA) and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) were used to measure the BF% and body fat distribution, respectively.

A cross-sectional survey of 1210 sampled adults (569 men and 641 women), were enrolled in the study. A total of 1103 adults were analyzed in this report. Subjects were not dieting or following any course of weight control during the study. Tea consumption and other lifestyle characteristics were obtained using structured questionnaires.

Among the 1103 subjects analyzed, 473 (42.9%) were habitual tea drinkers. Of these habitual tea drinkers, 455 were green or oolong tea consumers and 18 were black tea consumers. The mean duration of tea consumption was approximately 10.26 years and the average daily amount consumed was 434.3 mL among habitual tea drinkers. In the dose-response analysis, subjects were categorized into four subgroups by their duration of tea consumption, nonhabitual (620 subjects), 1 year to 5 years (200 subjects), 6 years to 10 years (143 subjects), and more than 10 years (140 subjects). After adjustment for age, BMI, total physical activity, favored food intake, and major lifestyle covariates, the levels of BF%, waist circumference, hip circumference, and WHR were found to be lowest among subjects who consumed tea habitually for more than 10 years compared with the other three subgroups.

In general, those who had maintained the habit of tea consumption for more than 10 years had a reduction of 19.6% of BF% and 2.1% of WHR compared with non-habitual subjects. Therefore, long-term habitual tea consumption may influence fat metabolism. These findings indicate that tea could be used as a possible, healthy, weight loss beverage.