Slimming teas, also known as “weight loss teas,” have been receiving an increasing amount of attention from both commercial and academic quarters. These teas are herbal blends advertised to help in weight loss. In the past, many different medications and complementary therapies have been used to treat obesity, but only a few have shown considerable positive results. Slimming teas are generally commercially available and have influenced the market in response to many advertisements about their care and validity. Weight management can be very difficult to accomplish and maintain, and people are often searching for a simpler option. Weight loss teas are currently a widespread craze, and, according to some studies, their efficacy is being explored with inconclusive findings.
Many cultures have used slimming teas to lose weight, and trends regarding the use of slimming teas show considerable regional differences. Although it is difficult to generalize the reasons for using weight loss teas, in general, people use slimming teas because they are believed to boost energy and reduce blood sugar, nourish the liver, improve digestion, act as a diuretic, offer vitamins and antioxidants, and contribute to weight loss. In a review of the literature, the authors of the present paper concluded that weight loss teas have various impacts on the human body depending on their bioactive ingredients. This essay will review the arguments for different active compounds in some commercially available weight loss teas to assess their effects on weight loss and concomitantly outline the research needed to ultimately determine the benefits of slimming teas. It will cover/mention/outline the main healthy active compounds such as Oolong tea, Green tea, Pu-erh tea, Garcinia (Garcinia gummi gutta L.), Cinnamon (Cinnamomum verum), and Ho Shou Wu (Polygonum multiflorum) to address/determine the extent of their beneficial effects.
Weight loss teas, as the name suggests, are teas specifically designed to help manage or lose weight. They are not your average cup of tea. Many are blends, with most having a mix of both Chinese and Indian teas, sometimes even drawing from other locations as well.
Pu-erh: Pu-erh is a fermented tea that benefits by suppressing the synthesis of fat.
Oolong tea: A traditional Chinese tea that assists in weight loss. The antioxidants present in Oolong tea are attributed to breaking up fat cells in the body, while its catechins help in weight loss.
Green Tea: A representation of herbal teas for weight loss, particularly the flavored versions, where the outcome is enticing as other kinds of green tea.
Fennel: Fennel has a diuretic effect and relieves you of bloating. It is best to consume peppermint or fennel tea after meals whenever possible.
Most authors recommend drinking slimming teas for weight loss. Does this mean that tea alone can completely replace other weight loss methods? No, this is just an additional tool. The advantage of these teas is that you do not need to go on a diet or be on an ordinary diet. You just need to periodically drink these teas, and you will have a faster and improved result. What causes these slimming teas to work? Why can their natural ingredients contribute to weight reduction? They can likewise bolster the body’s energy expenditure by increasing fat oxidation, the process by which the human body converts fat into energy. Some people drink detox teas to modify biological processes that impact how the body regulates its fluid and sodium levels. This is perceived to be possible because of mild diuretic effects stemming from some herbal teas for weight loss ingredients included in detox formulas. Additionally, the flours or fibers present in some detox teas – especially laxative types – can enhance the consumer’s bowel movements by opening up the bowels to release more waste.
Weight reduction could be achieved by several mechanisms of action that some teas may contain. Some dietary habits, including the consumption of slimming teas, have been shown to speed up metabolism, which is the primary fat-burning pathway. Consumption of certain substances can boost energy or decrease energy absorption and use, either of which can help regulate weight in a way. In reality, certain herbal teas for weight loss contain bioactive compounds that work directly or indirectly with metabolic pathways, such as caffeine and solid catechins, which are linked to weight loss. Even though the vast majority of weight loss claims were agreed upon, there are often risks that certain people experience discomfort such as vomiting, motion sickness, throat infections, diarrhea, and cramps, as well as more substantial side effects such as gallbladder disease, damage diarrhea, and high blood pressure.
It is critical to note that supplementary proof of the method of action of herbal teas for weight loss is unlikely, with much of the information available included in commercial advertising. Although no studies have been published in support of this argument, researchers have cited the hemiparasitic Chinese pid tree as a potential appetite suppressant that could potentially reduce weight by as long as 10-30 percent. A further study exposed the fact that one of the teas promoted with a coronavirus claim demonstrates that some substances may even help to increase fat burning, decrease obesity, and improve body tone. However, evidence is confined by its inconsistency; a few findings pointed to a possible toxic or negative effect associated with tea consumption, prompting supporters to seek medical guidance.
While there are many varieties of weight loss teas, only a few are known for their use in weight loss. Each of these has different properties and assets – yet all of them are said to have the potential to promote weight management. The primary types of herbal teas for weight loss include: green tea, which is not only rich in catechins and caffeine but also chlorogenic acids and theanine; oolong tea, which contains significantly more polyphenols than the other teas alongside caffeine and catechins; white tea, noted for its high quantity of catechins; and pu-erh, a unique dark tea that contains both unique ingredients and the highest amount of caffeine of all.
This section should give an in-depth overview of one or more of these ingredients, discussing:
– Where it comes from (for example, what plant or plants, or simple synthesis)
– What benefits are linked to its consumption
– What antioxidant compounds or other bioactives are present in the tea, both those that are unique to the tea and those that are relative to other types of tea
– What studies have tested this tea or one of its components
– How it might work.
This section may provide detailed profiles of popular types of herbal teas for weight loss such as green tea, oolong tea, and pu-erh tea, outlining their unique chemical constituents with supporting evidence from published studies that discuss their potential impacts on body weight.
Assessor (1): This post should feature a digest of one ingredient/slimming tea, discussing detailed information about its origins and any historical or cultural significance. This can be followed by a discussion of any antioxidants, bioactive compounds, or unique ingredients present in the slimming tea and their effect on weight. If no unique compounds from the slimming tea are included in the bioactive compounds, it could include a discussion of the most prominent bioactives present in green tea, such as catechins and caffeine, along with examples of the highest amounts detectable.
Green tea is undoubtedly the most popular and well-known variety of slimming tea. Cultivars, chemical compounds, and agro-processing have become significantly more essential in the production of quality green tea. Green tea has a multi-mechanism approach in managing weight and exhibits results more pronounced in combination with dairy and caffeine.
Oolong tea possesses its own unique color, taste, and aroma which set it apart from green and black teas. It is most often characterized by its semi-fermented tea leaves, which fall between the other teas in terms of tea polyphenol content. This intermediate position makes oolong tea a combination of the active constituents found in both black and green teas, containing both high levels of tea polyphenols and theasinensins, with a unique blend of catechin, gallic acid esters, and epigallocatechin-type catechins such as purple catechin, which is not present in green tea.
In particular, oolong tea has been found to contain the highest total content of tea polyphenols, theasinensins, and caffeine. Daily oolong tea consumption was found to promote bodily fat metabolism and prevent obesity. The synergistic effect produced by the combined presence of the active compounds must also not be underestimated. These compounds are understood to support the inhibition of pancreatic lipase activity, which breaks down ingested dietary fat into absorbable free fatty acids and monoacylglycerol in the intestinal lumen, and neutral lipase activity, which catalyzes hydrolysis bile salt metabolism and free fatty acid. It is also possible that oolong tea polyphenols influence fatty acid oxidation in the liver and skeletal muscle, with oolong tea-mediated increase in adiponectin having been proposed previously.
In traditional Chinese medicine, medicinal herbs based on oolong tea are used to control weight. Some Chinese as well as Taiwanese believe that oolong tea can directly inhibit fat absorption and be able to quickly reduce body fat to lose weight.
Consequently, herbal teas for weight loss can be an important tool to reduce body weight and obesity due to its role in controlling and suppressing intestinal fat absorption and metabolism.
The unique procedure for fermenting mature tea leaves of the big-leaf tea plant (Camellia sinensis) has made pu-erh tea an indispensable commercialized Asian beverage. After being harvested, withered, and sun-dried, the tea leaves can either be left in a loose form or compressed into various shapes. Through aging in a relatively warm and humid environment, pu-erh teas develop a smoother taste and milder astringency than that of fresh loose-leaf teas. In pu-erh tea, at least four main stages can be recognized during microbial fermentation and by primary endogenous enzymatic activity: (1) a self-fermentation when tea leaves are collected into tea stacks or immediately after thermo-inactivation, (2) a static fermentation when pile fermentation takes place with Aspergillus niger as the main fungal species, while isolated filamentous fungi grow actively at the top or on the tea leaves that are not yet incorporated in the tea mounds, (3) a relatively long post static-fermentation period with a fed-growth of non-filamentous side-fermenting yeasts and lactic acid bacteria and a gradual uptake of the easily fermentation available carbohydrates, and (4) a final ripe enchanting phase when less rapidly metabolizable cell-wall material, and insoluble pectins in particular are cumulatively digested and depleted.
The biological activities of pu-erh tea, such as anti-obesity, hypolipidemic, and hypoglycemic effects, have greatly attracted the interest of food scientists and the general public. Similarly, detox-cleansing effect has been attributed to pu-erh tea. The potential anorexiant and/or hypoglycemic activities due to its anti-amylase property were hypothesized and in part investigated by Cai et al. However, the anti-lipase properties and activities and potentials to transform nutritional exendogens to form a more non-soluble than the respective original substrata that can inhibit postprandial lipemia have not been researched yet. In vitro studies using rat plasma have shown inhibition of pancreatic lipase by a Shu pu-erh extract, suggesting potential to reduce fat resorption in vivo. The detox-cleansing effect of pu-erh is trifunctional, including cytotoxic properties on Vibrio parahaemolyticus, a disease ntric toxin, and a detoxifying effect against trichinism due to a pectin-like neutral sugar connected polysaccharide in pu-erh. The polyphenol oxidase of Aspergillus niger may be a major factor in hemolysis and tolerance properties of this enzyme, such as alcohol and heat stability and endogenous EDTA similar compounds production.
The scientific studies on the efficacy of weight loss teas section scrutinizes the existing research investigating the impact of herbal teas for weight loss. It may encompass a critical evaluation of the methodologies, findings, and limitations of relevant scientific studies, including clinical trials and experimental investigations. This section is likely to present a balanced overview of the evidence, discussing both supportive and contradicting findings within the scientific literature.
Note that the clinical research results concerning the efficacy of weight loss teas are also ambiguous. The majority of clinical trials were designed according to the international community’s standards in the field of evidence-based medicine. They are characterized mainly by the use of the gold standard in the form of randomized double-trials (RCT), a control group, a placebo, and/or standard medication. For instance, one of the multicenter RCT studied the use of herbal teas for weight loss a mixture of plant extracts, including Pentaherbs, on bodyweight in participants with type 2 diabetes. After 12 weeks of intervention, the body weight of the subjects consuming the Pentaherbs showed a significant reduction, although the exact bodyweight reduction data was not reported. Similarly, one of the preliminary experiments included 35 obese tested participants (age, 23.1 ± 1.3 years and body mass index (BMI), 30.0 ± 0.8 kg/m2), who ingested uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1)-upgrading Cat’s Whiskers herbal teas for weight loss (CW-HT). However, the detailed plant content was not mentioned. The participants consumed either the CW-HT or placebo herbal teas for weight loss twice a day. Further, the results showed that after the consumption of CW-HT for 8 weeks, the body mass significantly decreased, by about 4 kg, compared with that in the borderline-obese and obese groups.
In the study conducted by Proc (2017), after 4 days, 2 cups of green tea had no benefits for either body weight or body composition. Gut microflora were not changed either, suggesting that 7 days might be too short to disaggregate beneficial changes in gut microflora. Even though the studies that combined exercise and green tea (Dekker, 2005), or green tea solely (Basu, 2010), and exercise alone (Nabatxang, 2017) reported subsequent fat/weight loss, some studies have shown no weight reduction or improvement in metabolic parameters as well. Wang and colleagues’ meta-analysis supported the findings of Basu (2010), Voelker (2020), and Nabatxang (2017), and hence they concluded that supplementation of green tea with exercise improves fatness, blood lipids, and inflammation, specifically.
In contrast, Bisaga (2005) found that when green tea was consumed one hour before exercise, the rate of fat oxidation was decreased, i.e., no fat loss. The possible reasons for such contradictory results with green tea supplementation and exercise could be due to the differences in the type of exercise, i.e., long-distance walking for up to 17 days, in contrast to the present study where high-intensity cycling was performed at a level that matched Basu (2010) – akin to high-intensity cycling. In addition, the provision of legionella (Dopamine/Norepinephrine) taken one hour before exercise (Bisaga, 2005), in combination with 1g of green tea (Bogden, 2007), could increase hepatic delivery of free fatty acids (indicating increased lipolytic activity) to spare muscle glycogen stores and improve exercise efficiency (Saito, 2009). Further environmental factors, such as dietary, sleep, and other protocols, will also influence the exercise response and whole-body systemic fat metabolism. Finally, results may be due to inter-subject variability, in particular, the rapid clearance of EGCG in circulation (Hodges, 2013). It has been reported that a single dose of 40 mg non-caffeine Polyphenon E, equivalent to 2g of green tea, actually can increase energy expenditure and fat oxidation with such a rapid half-life of EGCG (Hodges, 2013). It is not entirely unexpected that this specific research design with the use of green tea would result in a lack of weight/fat loss. The negative findings are disappointing for those who seek natural means to support weight/fat reduction and need evidence to support behavior change. Discrepancies in weight, fat, and lipolytic effects of green tea have been somewhat reported across different age/gender groups in some studies, while no differences have been found in other studies. Overall, it indicates that the findings of the present study are not surprising in view of the existing inconsistencies. However, there is a clearly indicated need for more long-term studies investigating the fat loss and other physiological effects of green tea, special blending (e.g., organic or non-organic, or optimum green tea dose), green tea alongside exercise, and in larger cohorts.
There were some patients whose experiences with slimming teas have not been favorable or have raised safety concerns. These individuals may be taking herbal teas for weight loss as directed on the label or as instructed by the healthcare practitioner who is treating their obesity or comorbid conditions. The effects of a higher dose, longer duration of treatment, different mode of administration, or different range of patients using the product are often unknown. Additionally, this information also is not available for the person evaluating the product to determine whether it is safe and effective.
Slimming teas are available in a variety of product names and formulations. Like drugs, many herbal teas for weight loss with different formulations, dosage forms, and delivery methods are available over the counter. Some slimming teas are marketed as dietary supplements and function as an aid to herbal teas for weight loss and are generally available without the supervision of a healthcare professional. There are mechanisms available for individuals to find out more information on the efficacy and safety profile of pharmaceutical diets via prescription. This mechanism, however, is not available for herbal teas for weight loss. The products must contain a “supplement facts” and “various ingredient” label that lists all the active ingredients as well as any added inactive ingredients such as fillers, binders, and flavorings. In this mechanism, there are several other regulatory mechanisms in place to regulate weight loss teas, such as good manufacturing processes (GMP) quality control procedures that must be followed by the product manufacturers. Some slimming teas are “standardized” procedure, meaning that the company carries out clinical studies on their ingredient, using the same tested outcome with every batch, and can guarantee the results.
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