Tea may increase weight loss

Monty Python’s sketch called “Hell’s Grannies” featured a gang of gray-haired, leatherwearing troublemakers with the slogan “Make tea, not war” on the back of their jackets. Not bad, but we’d like to suggest a different slogan, one that touts another remarkable power of this much-loved, leafy beverage: “Hello, oolong; so long, belly fat.”

Oolong is a tea that’s not as dark as black tea or as light as green tea — but it’s just right when it comes to delivering the polyphenols that your body needs to burn off inflammatory visceral fat that gets deposited around your internal organs.

Japanese researchers recently published a study in the journal Nutrients that showed drinking 11 ounces of oolong tea, containing around 48 milligrams of the flavanol called catechin, at breakfast and lunch for two weeks increased fat oxidation by 20% — and it kept up the burn while the participants slept!

More study needs to be done to determine the long-term benefits of the fat attack that oolong launches, but along with previous animal and human research that indicates drinking tea may increase weight loss and reduce belly fat accumulation, it seems pretty smart to add it to your efforts to achieve a healthy weight. If you’re caffeine-sensitive, the good news is that the Japanese study indicates decaffeinated oolong can help battle the bulge too. So pour yourself a cup or two to go along with your highfiber, plant-centered, lean-protein meals. And remember the words of the English playwright Arthur Wing Pinero, “Where there’s tea there’s hope.”

Mehmet Oz, M.D. is host of “The Dr. Oz Show,” and Mike Roizen, M.D. is Chief Wellness Officer and Chair of Wellness Institute at Cleveland Clinic. To live your healthiest, tune into “The Dr. Oz Show” or visit www.sharecare. com.