DescriptionAn organic loose leaf oolong tea from the Wuyi Mountains, in the Fujian province of southeastern China.Oolong: Weightloss TeaIn China, oolong tea has traditionally been used for weight loss. To validate this practice, Physiologist Dr. William Rumpler, of the US Agriculture Research Services’ Diet and Human Laboratory, investigated oolong tea’s weight loss benefits. The study measured how tea influences energy expenditure (EE) and included 12 male volunteers who were given 4 separate beverage formulas over three consecutive days. The beverage formulas consisted of; 1) full strength oolong tea, 2) caffeinated water with caffeine equal to full strength oolong tea, 3) half strength oolong tea and 4) non caffeinated water.The participants 24 hour EE was measured and resulted in;• EE levels of about 3% higher when they drank either the full strength oolong tea or the caffeinated water versus the non caffeinated water.• Participants burned an average of 67 more calories per day when drinking the full strength oolong tea.• Participants increased fat oxidation (fat burning) by 12% after consuming the full strength oolong tea versus the caffeinated water.• This data confirms that a component other than caffeine is responsible for promoting the preferential use of fat as an energy source.A 2003 Japanese study compared the benefits of oolong tea and green tea on weight reduction. The study found that drinking oolong tea resulted in greater energy expenditure than green tea.When identifying why oolong performed better, they found that although green tea had higher caffeine and EGCG content, the concentration of polymerized polyphenols was significantly higher in oolong tea.These findings show that it’s the polymerized polyphenols, highest in oolong tea, that link tea to burning fat, not just the caffeine or just the combination of caffeine and EGCGs. Furthermore, the rest of the compounds compared in the teas were similar or equal to one another with no marked differences, reinforcing the results.
