IndiaToday.in spoke to a few health experts to understand if green tea helps in reducing belly fat. Read on to know what they said
HIGHLIGHTS
- Green tea has gained popularity as a weight-loss drink.
- It is enriched with antioxidants and has ample of health benefits.
- But does green tea help in reducing belly fat? Read on to know what experts have to say.
Are you of the opinion that drinking a few cups of green tea every day is all you need to do in order to reduce your belly fat? If yes, apologies for breaking your heart but that’s not how it works. While drinking green tea may aid weight loss, solely relying on this drink to melt your fat away might leave you disappointed.
Enriched with antioxidants, green tea has ample of health benefits. It is known to combat skin-related issues and lower the risk of heart diseases. Over the years, it has gained immense popularity as a weight-loss drink as well.
IndiaToday.in spoke to a few health experts to understand if green tea actually helps lose belly fat. Read on to know what they said.
“Green tea has received a lot of positive media attention in recent times owing to its numerous health-promoting benefits including it being anti-inflammatory, anti-carcinogenic and containing an array of beneficial antioxidants,” Nupur Saraf, Consultant Nutritionist, Nutrimend, said.
“However, when we speak of fat loss or whether green tea helps in reducing belly fat, there is no research that proves this. Fat loss cannot be attributed to consuming or eliminating any one particular item from one’s diet and depends on the overall lifestyle and calorific balance maintained by one. The only way green tea could help in any kind of fat loss is if it is used as a substitute for regular tea, ie without milk and sugar which helps in cutting down the calorie intake,” she added.
Dietician Chayanika Sarmah also echoed similar thoughts and said that green tea does not directly help with weight loss. “The catechins present in green tea will minutely help in reducing weight, but that is negligible. What actually happens is when people consume regular tea, the calorie intake is high because it contains milk as well as sugar. But with green tea, people usually drink it without sugar and it does not contain milk as well. So the calorie intake is less. But green tea does not directly help in belly fat loss,” she said.
“It minutely increases the metabolism, which is negligible. The difference will only come by properly maintaining the diet. Even with the diet, it is not just about reducing the calories but also keeping in mind the quality of food you are having,” she added.
“If you eat fruits, salads and vegetables, you get vitamins and minerals. With water, these nutrients help detoxify your kidney and liver which automatically increases your metabolism and helps with weight loss,” she further said.
A healthy lifestyle including eating healthy food, maintaining calorific balance, exercising regularly and proper sleep will help you say goodbye to the rigid belly fat. Green tea can certainly be a part of your diet though.
First published in India Today, https://www.indiatoday.in/amp/health/story/does-green-tea-help-in-reducing-belly-fat-1948664-2022-05-12