If dieting were easy, no one would struggle with their weight. But the fact is that cutting back on your calories is hard work-and hunger pangs and nagging cravings are all too capable of sabotaging even the most well-laid nutrition plans.
At the end of the day, managing your weight involves managing your appetite… and that’s why dieters everywhere will be happy to hear that recently published research is revealing one popular antioxidant as a natural solution to this near-constant tug-of-war with hunger.
As part of this new study, researchers supplemented 14 healthy subjects eating a breakfast of white bread and sliced turkey with either water or 300 ml of green tea. Researchers drew blood to evaluate for blood sugar and insulin levels at the time of the meal, and again at 15, 30, 45, 60, 90 and 120 minutes-meanwhile, the subjects were asked to report their levels of satiety. A crossover study then replicated the same experiment with the initial green tea group receiving only water, and vice versa.
While previous studies have linked green tea consumption to balanced blood sugar, the results of this study did not indicate such a connection, revealing no significant difference in changes to plasma blood glucose or insulin levels between the two groups. What the researchers did find, however, was a significantly higher reported satiety level among subjects who received green tea with their meal. Unlike the subjects who received water alone, this group noted less desire to eat their favorite food-even saying that eating another mouthful was a less pleasant experience after drinking green tea as opposed to water.
The study authors’ conclusion: While the jury is still out on green tea’s ability to influence blood sugar, this study offers evidence in support of green tea’s benefits against nagging hunger pangs and cravings-making for one more natural ally in the fight against fat.
The best part? You don’t have to swill a dozen cups a day to reap the benefits of green tea. Getting your daily dose of this antioxidant powerhouse is easier than ever thanks to Green Tea Extract Capsules, available in convenient capsules from Vitamin Research Products.
Reference: 1. Josic J, Tholen Olsson A, Wickenberg J, Lindstedt S, Hlebowicz J. Does green tea affect postprandial glucose, insulin and satiety in healthy subjects: a randomized controlled trial. Nutr J. 2010 Nov 30;9(1):63.
