Oolong tea is a traditional Chinese tea that typically grows in the southwestern & southeastern provinces of China, Yunnan and Fujian.
Anti-Obesity Effects:
- Consumption of Oolong tea for 1 WEEK significantly decreased visceral fat (a.k.a: that deep abdominal fat)
- Visceral fat becomes dangerous because it increases your risk for heart disease, cancer, stroke, dementia, diabetes, arthritis, sexual dysfunction, sleep disorders….shall I go on? When a study uses the term “significantly” you know it made a surprisingly big change.
- Oolong tea increases ‘AMP-activated protein kinase’ (AMPK).
- AMPK sets in motion processes that potentially both increase ATP generation/energy generating processes such as: fatty-acid oxidation and glucose transport, and decreases others processes that consume ATP.
- AMPK activation has a role in mediating the prevention and treatment of specific disorders: Metabolic Syndrome, Type 2 Diabetes and Alzheimer’s Disease.
- AMPK activation in tissues seems to counteract many of the cellular abnormalities observed in animal models of the metabolic syndrome including: Insulin Resistance, Inflammation and abnormal fat storage. Conversely, if it’s dysregulation (defined as decreased activity or impaired activation) may contribute to these abnormalities.
- Exercise is perhaps the most powerful physiological activator of AMPK, and now Oolong tea can be added to that list.
- Long term Oolong tea consumption associated with improved Cholesterol markers
- Drinking more than 2.4 cups of Oolong tea daily was found to be associated with the lowest odds of dyslipidemia risk when compared with non-consumption.
- Consumption for the longest duration was found to be associated with lower blood total cholesterol, triglycerides and LDL-cholesterol levels.
- Oolong tea decreases body fat content and reduce body weight through improving lipid metabolism.
- Drinking 8g of Oolong tea (equals about 4 tablespoons) a day for 6 weeks was ingested by 102 diet-induced overweight or obese subjects. A total of 70% of the severely obese subjects did show a decrease of more than 2.2 lbs in body weight, including 22% who lost more than 6.6 lbs. Similarly, 64% of the obese subjects and 66% of the overweight subjects lost more than 2.2 lbs during the experiment, and the subcutaneous fat content decreased in 12% of the subjects.
- Cholesterol levels and Triglyceride levels also markedly decreased as well
- It was determined that the mechanism for oolong tea to prevent hyperlipidemia may be related to the regulative action of oolong tea catechins in lipoprotein activity.
Anti-Inflammatory Effects:
- Polyphenols of Oolong tea leaves inhibit multiple inflammatory responses
- Oolong tea contains theasinensins (TSA), a group of tea polyphenols different from green tea catechins and black tea theaflavins, and they are considered as bioactive compounds in Oolong tea
- TSA reduced the levels of pro-inflammatory mediators that get switched on and are ‘self-feeding’ so to speak. Self-feeding inflammatory cascades are extremely hard to switch off once turned on.
- Oolong polyphenol extracts induced weight loss and anti-inflammatory and angiogenic effects
- Angiogenesis is defined as the formation of new blood vessel growth from existent micro vessels and involves several processes.
- Angiogenesis during fat tissue expansion is anti-inflammatory, the polyphenols in Oolong tea leaves increased angiogenesis.
Enjoy your tea! Don’t drink it at night, it contains caffeine. I found out the hard way lol.
Sources:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27247873
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25098399
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2779044/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24229494
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19271168
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4919637/