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Wulong Tea for Weight Loss

Wulong tea, or oolong tea, is a traditional Chinese tea known for its fat-burning effects. Wulong tea is similar to green tea in its health benefits, but it undergoes oxidation and is more brown in color. Wulong tea differs from green tea by having a more woody or flowery taste because of this oxidation.

  1. Facts

    • Wulong tea comes from the Camellia sinensis tea plant, as all true teas do. Between green tea and black tea, Wu long tea leaves are semi-oxidized and undergo 10 to 70 percent fermentation. Similar to green tea, Wulong tea provides many health benefits including improved digestion and immunity, fighting heart disorders and bone disease, and prevention of tooth decay. Wulong tea also reverses signs of aging and helps clear acne and improve tone and appearance. Wulong tea is used as a weight-loss supplement, with the benefits considered to be more than double that of green tea. While burning calories, Wulong tea also reduces the fattening effects of carbohydrates when included in a daily diet.

    Fat-Burning Benefits

    • The polyphenols in Wulong tea introduce the process of thermogenesis to the body, and the act of heating up helps aid in greater fat oxidation. Wulong tea has been shown to burn more than twice the calories that regular green tea does. A study published in The Journal of Nutrition in November 2001 shows the improved fat-burning effects received from the intake of Wulong tea, along with anormal daily human diet. Over a three-day period the addition of Wulong tea to the diet increased fat burning by 12 percent over the consumption of water in a group of male participants. In August 2003 a study in the Journal of Medical Investigation showed 157% greater fat-burning results with the consumption of Wulong tea as opposed to green tea. This study contained groups of Japanese women over a 30-day period who were given the addition of Wulong or green tea to their diets, consumed three times daily.

    Weight Management

    • Increased metabolism relates to weight loss, and weight maintenance. Energy expenditure (EE) is shown to relate to metabolism, and studies have shown regular consumption of Wulong tea to help increase EE by nearly 3 percent within 90 minutes, and then maintained as long as an additional two hours. Wulong tea would require continued dietary consumption in order to help maintain weight-loss results and increased energy and metabolism.

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