Health Benefits of Green Tea and Exercise Revealed

April 10 2014

Health Benefits of Green Tea and Exercise Revealed

Consuming green tea and performing moderate amounts of exercise on a regular basis could significantly improve your health. While it’s no secret that both green tea and exercise can lead to better health, this is the first study to actually link them. Unfortunately, the study was done on mice, so it’s still up for discussion whether green tea and exercise has the same effect on humans, but it’s an exciting medical breakthrough nonetheless.

About The Green Tea & Exercise Study

Penn State researchers conducted a study to determine the impact of exercise and green tea on laboratory mice. The mice were separated into several different groups, including one group that performed regular amounts of exercise and consumed moderate amounts of decaffeinated green tea.

At the end of the 16-week study, researchers found that mice who were given green tea and exercised regularly experienced the greatest health benefits. Over the course of the study, these mice lost an average of 27% of their body mass and experienced a 36% reduction in their abdominal fat. In addition, they also experienced a 17% reduction in their blood glucose levels, a 65% reduction in plasma insulin levels, and a 65% reduction in insulin resistance.

"What is significant about this research is that we report for the first time that voluntary exercise in combination with green tea extract reduced symptoms of metabolic syndrome and diet-induced obesity in high-fat-fed mice more significantly than either treatment alone,” said Joshua Lambert, associate professor at Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences. “The changes in body weight and body fat may result from increased fat metabolism and decreased fat synthesis. Green tea seems to modulate genes related to energy metabolism.”

Do These Same Benefits Apply To Humans?

We really don’t know whether these same green tea and exercise benefits will apply to humans, but this is still an eye-opening study that should be looked at further by health experts.

Mice are usually the preferred test subjects in research such as this because their anatomy is similar to humans.

Health Benefits of Drinking Green Tea:

• Regulates blood sugar levels.
• Provides a natural source of free-radical-fighting antioxidants.
• Encourages weight loss.
• Studies suggest that green tea may reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.
• It tastes delicious!
• Lowers bad cholesterol levels (LDL).
• Raises good cholesterol levels (HDL).

The study was published in the Molecular Nutrition Food Research.

Cup of green tea: photo by Kanko.