Posted on 03/03/2005 1:33:46 PM PST by nickcarraway
The amount of green tea eaten by the mice would work out to about 4 cups of green tea a day for a 165-pound human athlete. That's a little less than a liter of tea a day.
Probably not. But green tea extract does make mice stronger swimmers, Japanese researchers report. Ten weeks of green tea supplements plus strenuous exercise made mice swim longer and stronger than mice that swam their laps without performance enhancement.
"We have shown that green tea extracts are beneficial for improving endurance capacity, and that this effect is accompanied by a stimulation of [fat] metabolism," Takatoshi Murase, PhD, writes. "Although the clinical efficacy of green tea extract has not yet been confirmed in human studies, our results suggest that green tea extract may be a useful tool for improving endurance capacity."
Even better news: The mice got stronger because the green tea made them burn fat more efficiently, suggests Murase and colleagues at the Biological Sciences Laboratories of Kao Corp., Tochigi, Japan. Kao Corp. is a maker of green tea products.
The findings appear in the online edition of the American Journal of Physiology: Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, published by the American Physiology Society.
Mice even mighty mice are not men. But Murase calculates that the amount of green tea eaten by the mice would work out to about 4 cups of green tea a day for a 165-pound human athlete. That's a little less than a liter of tea a day.
Green tea does contain caffeine. But evidence indicates that the performance enhancement comes from green tea chemicals called catechins and not caffeine. The main catechin in green tea is called EGCG. Taken by itself, EGCG did enhance mouse performance. But this effect is "weak," Murase says, compared with the effect of whole green tea extract.
Sources: Murase, T. American Journal of Physiology: Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology, online edition, January 2005. News release, American Physiology Society.
Eating 4 cups of tea or drinking 4 cups?
The pre-fab four could have told you this years ago.
Barry Bonds is probably already busy spreading on Green Tea "cream" as we speak.
The Rutles? Dirk McQuickly & Co.
Yeah....but can they drive?
Rutles sighting.
Admittedly, Radio Doctor's like Dean Adell may not always have the full data on everything, but he addressed this last week (green tea) and reported that JAMA, and a few other such trades have noted there is no real significance in drinking green tea vs any other tea. Those saying green tea is so good for you also tend to have a vested interest in seeing higher sales.
Take it for what it's worth. I drink it because I just like the flavor.
All You Need Is Tea.
Yep, you can buy kick-butt oolong tea in San Francisco Chinatown that will curl your toes clean up to your elbows. Last time I bought it it was $87 a pound.
bttt
Ping!
I would say the case is not definitive, but there is a lot of research on green tea. There is more research on green tea in general, so there is greater evidence of the beneficial properties of green tea. Eventually, more research will be done on black tea. By the way, I believe what research there is shows white tea to be more beneficial than green tea.
White tea is pretty obscure. Is this a joke, or are you actually familiar with white tea?
No, I am familiar with white tea. I drink it all the time.
...message sponsored by the green tea lobby.
White tea? Never heard of it... have you tried it? Any good?
higher antioxidant content than greentea... a bit more money too but good.
k, I'll give it a try.
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