DOES CAMELLIA SINENSIS HELP WITH WEIGHT LOSS?

Despite being widespread in Japan, Camellia Sinensis is native to Southwest Asia, China, and India. Currently, Camellia Sinensis has gained significant traction in the Brazilian dietary routine for two reasons: media exposure (television celebrities claiming to use it for weight loss in magazine articles) and researchers' attention (as Eastern medicine sometimes uncovers insights that Western medicine only later comprehends). Well, by now you're probably certain you've never heard of Camellia Sinensis, and even less likely that you've ever ingested it.

But you're probably mistaken. Camellia is none other than the famous green tea, black tea, white tea, or red tea. What differentiates one from the other is the degree of fermentation the tea undergoes at the end of the preparation process. Fermented tea is black tea. Unfermented tea is green tea. And the others are semi-fermented. Approximately three billion tons of tea are produced annually, with 78% being black, 20% green, and 2% semi-fermented (LIMA et al, 2009).

According to Hassani et al (2008), we can find xanthines (caffeine and theophylline – the latter often in higher concentration than in coffee), flavonoids and catechins (epigallocatechin, EGC, epicatechin, EC, epicatechin gallate, EG, and epigallocatechin gallate, EGCG), vitamins (vitamin C, B-complex vitamins), and mineral salts.

And it is these active compounds that give the plant its power in weight loss and other medicinal aspects.

Beyond its antibacterial activity (HASSANI et al, 2008), anticancer effects (BERTOLINI et al, 2000), hypocholesterolemic properties – cholesterol reduction (KAO, HIIPAKKA, LIAO, 2009; MURAMATSU K; FUKUYU M; HARA Y, 1986) and reduced risk of coronary diseases (KOO and NOH, 2007), and even the reprogramming of cancer cells (AHMAD et al, 1997) – which would certainly warrant another article dedicated solely to its functional properties – Camellia Sinensis has an interesting applicability in overweight treatments, which certainly places it among my prescriptions as an aid in obesity treatment.

In a study conducted by Duloo et al (1999), the ingestion of Camellia Sinensis in the form of green tea extract capsules (approximately 500mg/day) demonstrated that capsule intake increased thermogenesis, i.e., resting energy expenditure (heat production) and lipid oxidation.

It is imperative to note that in this study, the author also used groups ingesting only caffeine or placebo, which gives it a distinct importance from others, as it was believed that green tea's thermogenic power was simply a consequence of its caffeine content. The vast majority of researchers are already aware of caffeine's effect on the basal metabolic rate through central nervous system stimulation and subsequent heart rate alteration.

But interestingly, even when compared to the group that ingested caffeine with green tea, subjects who only ingested green tea showed increased caloric expenditure and accentuated lipid oxidation.

Beyond its contribution to calories that have already been absorbed (converting them into energy more quickly, as I mentioned in the study above), Camellia can also alter our potential to absorb fat at an intestinal level.

In an incredible study in Korea by Koo S. I and Noh S.K. (2007), it was verified that the previously mentioned catechin EGCG possesses the ability to interfere with the key processes that lead to the absorption of dietary fat in the small intestine. These processes are: emulsification, digestion, and solubilization of micelles. The biochemical mechanism is not yet clearly elucidated, but the authors suggest that catechins form complexes with lipids and with enzymes that degrade lipids, inactivating the effect they would have in promoting fat absorption into the internal environment. EGCG appears to be even more effective with strongly hydrophobic lipids (such as cholesterol), thus acting as an adjuvant in the treatment of patients prone to hypercholesterolemia.

To conclude this article, a more recent study published by the journal Nutrition and Metabolism in May of this year (2009), Sohle et al (2009) analyzed the efficacy of Camellia (in the commercial form of white tea) regarding its assistance in the process of body fat burning (lipolysis) and its implication in preventing body fat accumulation.

Through a modern methodology of culturing and incubating human-derived cells (pre-adipocytes) that would naturally convert into fat cells, Sohle et al (2009) demonstrated that white tea extract reduced triglyceride accumulation by 70%, increased glycerol release levels (which indicates increased lipolysis – breakdown of adipose tissue), and also reduced the levels of adipogenic transcription factors (ATF – Adipogenic Transcription Factor), an essential component in body fat formation, indicating white tea as a potent natural resource auxiliary in the prevention and treatment of obesity and hypertriglyceridemia.

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