Green tea may help keep off the pounds

One thing for sure: If people are buying it, food manufacturers will keep making it. That's clearly the reason why green tea versions of foods have spread as wide as Kit Kats. Food trends aside, the main reason why you may still want to jump on board the green tea bandwagon is because the stuff is just plain healthy.

Apart from study supported reports that green tea can help regulate blood glucose levels, preliminary studies now show that green tea may also help you keep off extra pounds. It is important to note, however, that studies involving the latter were only conducted on mice thus far.

According to a brief article posted on WebMD, the preliminary studies showed the following:

• Less weight and fat gain. Among mice with an obesity gene, those that ate chow laced with green tea extract gained less weight and less fat.
• Less fat in the liver. There was less sign of "fatty liver" disease in the mice with the obesity gene that ate chow laced with green tea extract.
• Lower cholesterol and triglyceride levels in mice with the obesity gene that ate the chow laced with green tea extract, compared to other mice with the same obesity gene.

The research study was conducted at the University of Connecticut. Its complete findings can be found in the February issue of The Journal of Nutrition.