Oolong tea fights fat and cholesterol

While most people are already aware that oolong tea is good for the health, a month-long experiment by a Japanese doctor showed the tea reduces body fat and rejuvenates internal organs, because it contains a large amount of polyphenol, the Daily Yomiuri Shimbun reports.

"I never expected to get the result I wanted from this experiment in such a short period of time," said Masatoshi Nakano, a lecturer at an Aichi Medical University institute.

In April, Nakano asked 12 men and women aged between 18 and 39 to participate in an experiment to examine the effect of oolong tea on their health. All the participants had a clean bill of health and a body mass index of between 20 and 30.

The participants were effectively asked to soak their lives in oolong tea for a month. They were required to drink at least one litre of oolong tea each day and refrain from drinking water. Participants were also asked to eat a balanced diet during the period. Blood samples were taken from the participants for analysis both before and afterward.

Nakano took the blood samples to Yasuharu Mitomo, a professor at Nagoya City University for tests. Dr. Mitomo is specialised in the study of "internal-organ aging." Using various indicators, such as cholesterol and blood sugar levels, and hepatic activity, he has been researching the impact of different lifestyles on the aging process of internal organs.

In testing the blood samples, Mitomo used a calculation method he devised for evaluating the age of organs. He used the results of medical checkups as the basis for the calculations.

According to his findings, the internal organs of the participants were rejuvenated by an average of 1.9 years and a maximum of nine years. The average age of the 12 participants was 26.9. Before the oolong tea experiment, their average internal organ age was 30.3, and dropped to 28.4 after the experiment.

The one whose internal-organ age was rejuvenated by nine years was a woman aged 29. Her cholesterol level fell from 206 before the experiment to 157 afterward, while her LDL (bad) cholesterol level dropped from 137 to 98. Along with the decrease in cholesterol levels, her overall internal-organ age dropped from 38 to her actual age of 29.

"The higher the combined level of cholesterol, the harder your arteries become," Mitomo said. Hardening of the arteries is believed to be a common cause of fatal heart attacks and strokes.

The combined cholesterol levels of most of the participants fell, as did their g-GTP, an indicator of hepatic activity. Meanwhile, HDL (good) cholesterol rose in many cases.

From nutraingredients-usa.com


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