By Annette R. Karnash, R.N., M.N.
The March Hare, the Mad Hatter and the Doormouse didn’t have to worry about body fat considering the tea drinking they did in “Alice in Wonderland”. Taiwanese researchers found that people who habitually drink tea have less body fat and lower hip to waist ratios than do infrequent tea drinkers. They studied 1,103 subjects who completed questionnaires concerning tea consumption and other lifestyle characteristics. The body fat percentage of the habitual tea drinkers for more than 10 years was 19.6 % lower than the non-habitual tea drinkers and the hip to waist ratios was 2.1% lower.
For those with higher body fat, it is recommended that 2 cups of tea daily can promote a healthy body weight. They are not certain as to the ingredients in tea that lead to these decreases, but it is felt that catechines, polyphenols and caffeine are the major ingredients that could promote the healthy metabolism of body fat and its distribution. There are 4000 chemical ingredients in a tea leaf.
