Review: Fat Wars by Combination of Green Tea Extract and Caffeine, Burning more Calories and Effect on Fat Oxidation in Humans

Green tea catechins (GTC) are polyphenolic compounds present in the unfermented dried leaves of the plant. The result from a number of studies observed consumption of GTC (270 mg to 1200 mg/day) may reduce body weight and fat. Caffeine, naturally present in green tea, also influences sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activity [3], and may act synergistically with GTC to increase energy expenditure and fat oxidation [23]. The role of green tea extract (GTE) is fat metabolism and its influence on health and exercise performance [7]. The results illustrated from a number of papers positive effects of GTE on fat metabolism at rest and during exercise, following both shorter and longer term intake. Catechin-caffeine mixtures or a caffeine-only supplementation stimulates daily energy expenditure dose dependently by 0.4-0.5 kJ mg-1 administered. Compared with placebo, daily fat-oxidation was only significantly increased after catechin-caffeine mixtures ingestion [2, 6, 7, 9].