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In recent years, green tea has gained a lot of attention for its health benefits. Many studies have been conducted that have shown various ways that green tea helps keep you healthy. Among these findings include evidence that green tea helps lower cholesterol, reduces your risk of heart disease and cancer, and helps you lose weight.

In the beginning, it was thought that green tea's effect on weight loss was due to its ability to speed up the metabolism, and much of this ability was thought to be due to the fact that green tea contains caffeine.

However, many recent studies have suggested that green tea's ability to speed up the metabolism is not due to its caffeine content alone. In some studies, subjects were fed the caffeine equivalent of green tea, but did not show the same weight loss results as subjects who were actually fed the green tea, suggesting that green tea contains something more than caffeine that affects weight loss.

More recent research suggests, however, that speeding up the metabolism is not the only way that green tea helps you lose weight. Other studies have suggested that green tea may also increase your ability to burn body fat and that it may also block the absorption of dietary fat. This means that less of the fat you consume in your food may end up in fat on your body.

This is important news. If green tea can block the absorption of dietary fat, it may have tremendous weight loss potential. There is already one prescription diet drug on the market that blocks fat absorption, and it has helped many patients lose weight. However, this drug has significant side effects, and is not recommended for long term use.

While blocking the absorption of the fat in your diet is not the total weight loss answer, it could be a great help. To sustain long term weight loss, it's important to make changes in your dietary habits, not just rely on a weight loss supplement to reduce your fat absorption. However, when such substances are used in conjunction with a sensible diet and exercise plan, they can make losing weight and keeping it off significantly easier.

One important study on this subject was reported by the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry, and evaluated the absorption of dietary fat through the gastrointestinal tract and through the pancreas, and how this absorption is affected by the anti-oxidants in green tea.

The study examined how fat absorption in the stomach and pancreas was affected when green tea extract was included with the dietary fat. The study was conducted in vitro, meaning that the activity was observed in the lab rather than on human or animal subjects.
The study concluded that fat absorption was inhibited by about 60mg when green tea extract was used. This is an amount that would be considered significant to human diet. Though this study was conducted in vitro, researchers concluded that the results would be likely to be the same in humans.

Overweight and obesity are fast becoming our nation's number one health concern. Today, nearly 60% of us are overweight, with more than 30% of us considered obese. This means that our country has a lot of weight to lose, and that we need all the help we can get. Being overweight or obese significantly increases your risk of heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and some forms of cancer. So, our lives literally depend upon getting our waistlines under control.

And, that's what's so great about green tea. While drinking green tea is no substitute for eating sensibly and exercising, it is the perfect adjunct to these important habits. That's because green tea has been shown to reduce your risk of precisely many of the diseases that obesity contributes to, and it helps you lose weight in the process.

Study after study has shown that green tea can help reduce cholesterol, a leading contributor to heart disease. Green tea has also been shown to help regulate blood sugar, which may reduce your risk for Type II diabetes, and may even help you to control diabetes if you've already been diagnosed. And, green tea reduces your risk for cancer, too.

So, if you're overweight, it's time to get your health in order. Take a look at your diet. Reduce your intake of saturated fat, white flour and sugar. Increase your intake of fresh fruits and vegetables and whole grains. Get 30 minutes of exercise on most days of the week. And, add green tea to your daily diet.

Green tea is easier to find than ever. Most grocery stores carry green tea in teabag form and many fine tea purveyors carry a wide variety of flavored and plain green tea in loose form. You can even find green tea bottled to make it more convenient than ever to get your daily dose.

Green tea is just as effective whether you drink it hot or cold, and whether or not you add milk or sweetener. To benefit your health and your weight loss efforts, it's recommended that you consume 3-5 cups of green tea each day.

Green tea is good for you, tastes delicious and has no side effects. Even the caffeine in green tea is better tolerated by the caffeine sensitive than the caffeine in many other beverages. So, what's stopping you? There's no downside to drinking green tea. And, its benefits to your health and your waistline may be significant.