Successful Weight Loss with Green Tea Extract

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Is Green tea is good for weight loss?
Yes, believe it or not, more and more often you’ll find green tea (or green tea extract) included in the compilations of many of the more popular weight loss supplements today. Tea has been used as an aid for weight loss. Drinking a cup of tea with each meal is a protocol for using tea successfully as a metabolic stimulant. Tea by itself carries only 4 calories per serving, and it’s most healthy when consumed with nothing added. The caffeine in tea increases body function to help burn more calories and the polyphenols seem to aid in the digestion of fat, truly making it a Chinese diet tea.

Green tea is recommended for the diet aid mainly because of its multifaceted effects on health. The major active component that attributes the properties to the green tea are the polyphenols such as catechin, epicatechin, epicatechin gallate, gallaogatechin, epigallocatechin, and apigallocatechin gallate (known as EGCG).

Green tea contains high concentrations of catechin polyphenols. These compounds work with other chemicals to intensify levels of fat oxidation and thermogenesis, where heat is created in the body by burning fuels such as fat. Drinking Japanese green tea regularly will increase your metabolism and help burn fat safely and naturally.

In Thailand, India, Japan and China, green tea has been used as a medicine for a variety of conditions from helping with digestion to healing wounds.

But while many in the medical field proclaim the wonders of this much talked about tea, others are quick to point out that there is little or no evidence to support at least some of the claims.

Glucose Regulator
Green tea also acts as a glucose regulator i.e. it slows the rise in blood sugar following a meal, by slowing the action of a particular digestive enzyme called amylase. This enzyme is pivotal in the breakdown of starches that can cause blood sugar levels to soar following a meal.

Green tea contains Vitamin B, C and thiamine. This will ensure that our brain cells have sufficient energy to protect the nervous system from being over stimulated. A good nourished brain will surely help in achieving your weight loss goals.

In November 1999, the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition published the results of a study at the University of Geneva in Switzerland, in which researchers found that men who were given a combination of caffeine and green tea extract burned more calories than those given only caffeine or a placebo.

The study conducted by the University of Geneva on the weight loss benefit of green tea extract implicated that green tea extract can also help thyroid patients. According to dietitian Lynn Moss, M.S., R.D., green tea extract is a healthier choice for people with thyroid who may be too sensitive to stimulants. Green tea extract can promote weight loss by increasing metabolism without over stimulating the adrenal glands.

Bottom Line: Green tea helps you with weight loss by boosting your metabolic rate, regulating your blood sugar, suppressing your appetite and giving you something else besides that high calorie, high sugar coffee beverage to drink in the morning. While it’s not the magic bullet, it can definitely give you a boost in weight loss and in your overall health

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Acne Drug Can Slow MS?

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Researchers in Calgary are preparing to begin a new study to see whether a commonly available acne medication could help delay the crippling effects of multiple sclerosis.

The medication, called minocycline, has been available for over 30 years. If it’s proven effective in delaying the progress of MS, it could offer an inexpensive option for the treatment of early stages of the disease.

A small study on 10 patients a few years ago yielded promising results. Now, clinical researchers in 14 Canadian centers will be taking an in-depth look at the drug in a $4-million, two-year study funded by the MS Society of Canada.

Minocycline is a prescription antibiotic used to control acne by killing the germs that prompt outbreaks. But the drug also offers anti-inflammatory properties, which researchers believe are responsible for its ability to slow the progress of MS.

The smaller study found that the drug substantially reduced the activity of the lesions that develop on MS patients’ brains and spinal tissues. The study found that the drug reduced the lesion activity by 84 per cent.

Now the researchers hope to replicate those findings in a larger human trial.

“The aim of our research is to see if this common drug can reduce the occurrence of further disease activity in people who have experienced an initial attack of MS symptoms and who are at high risk of progressing to definite MS,” says Dr. Luanne Metz, principal investigator for the study and a professor of clinical neurosciences at the University of Calgary Faculty of Medicine.

“Without treatment, two-thirds of people facing this circumstance are expected to be diagnosed with MS within six months. We believe minocycline can reduce this number.”

What also makes minocycline exciting is that it offers few side effects and can be taken in pill format, says Metz.

It’s also relatively cheap. At a cost of about $800 a year, minocycline is vastly cheaper than current medications, which can run between $18,000 and $40,000 annually.

Researchers note that minocycline would not necessarily replace current therapies, but might delay the timeframe in which they would be required.

Enrollment for the 200 patients needed for the study is set to begin in January, 2008, and will take place in 14 health centers across Canada.

Study sites will enroll people who have had their first attack of MS-like symptoms within the previous 90 days, after referral from their neurologist. This means that people who currently have MS will not be eligible for this clinical trial.

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