EGCG for the Holidays! If you're going to indulge in pumpkin pie with whipped cream this holiday season, enjoy it with a cup or two of green tea. This fat-burning drink might slightly stave off your pie's metabolic consequences. A new study in the journal Obesity concluded mice fed epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), a compound in green tea, with their high-fat diet gained weight 44% more slowly than mice who ate a high-fat diet without the EGCG. "There's no difference in the amount of food the mice are eating," said Joshua Lambert, assistant professor of food science at Penn State. "The mice are essentially eating a milkshake, except one group is eating a milkshake with green tea." The study found EGCG potentially inhibits pancreatic lipase (PL), an enzyme your small intestine secretes when you eat a meal that contains fat. The EGCG-fed mice's feces contained 30% more PL than the non-EGCG fed mice, suggesting they pooped out rather than absorbed some of that fat. "There seems to be two prongs to this," said Lambert. "First, EGCG reduces the ability to absorb fat and, second, it enhances the ability to use fat." Weight-loss drug manufacturers don't like these studies because they suggest you can get similar therapeutic effects without a drug's side effects. You know how green tea inhibits PL? Well, Orlistat, the first FDA-approved drug for weight loss, does the same thing, but with some unpleasant problems you won't get with green tea. I'll spare you the scatological repercussions of Orlistat. Let's just say you better stock up on Depends or be really close to a bathroom. This is hardly the first study to show green tea can burn fat. A meta-analysis on green tea and weight loss/ maintenance, for instance, concluded it "significantly decreased body weight and significantly maintained body weight." Here's the deal. You need to drink about 10 cups of green tea daily to get fat-burning amounts of EGCG. You can achieve this herculean feat if you consume green tea throughout your day. For instance, swap the morning java and that mid-afternoon latte for green tea. Brew your own green tea, and when you're out, opt for freshly brewed over bottled teas. Enjoy it unsweetened or add a little stevia or xylitol. Trust me, the seven teaspoons of sugar in a 16-ounce bottle of Snapple iced green tea will negate its health benefits, and diet Snapple is loaded with aspartame. I also recommend most of your green tea be decaffeinated. Theanine, an amino acid in green tea, seems to balance most of its caffeine, but you don't want to risk overload and become wired at 10 p.m. If drinking that much green tea sounds tortuous, you can instead choose a high-quality supplement that offers therapeutic amounts of EGCG. You often find this compound in over-the-counter weight-loss aids, but they rarely contain optimal amounts of EGCG and might include other potentially harmful ingredients. Look for a professionals-only supplement. Finally, don't kid yourself that you can down three venti green teas or pop some supplements with your 480-calorie Starbucks pumpkin scone and burn fat. No drink or nutrient can take the bullet for a crappy diet. Remember, the EGCG stalled weight gain in these mice. To burn fat, you need to combine optimal amounts of green tea with lean protein, leafy veggies, low-glycemic fruits, and fibrous starchy foods like lentils and beans. Sources: © 2011 JJ Virgin & Associates, Inc. Celebrity Nutrition & Fitness Expert JJ Virgin helps clients lose weight fast by breaking free from food allergies. She is the bestselling author of Six Weeks to Sleeveless and Sexy, a Huffington Post blogger, creator of the 4X4 Burst Training Workout & co-star of TLC's Freaky Eaters. Visit her at http://www.jjvirgin.com to take the quiz & find out if Your "Healthy" Habits are Making You Tired, Bloated & Age Faster?
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