Volume 91, Issue 3, March (2004), pp. 431-437 © The Author 2004
doi:10.1079/BJN20041061

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Effects of green tea on weight maintenance after body-weight loss

Eva M. R. Kovacs¹, Manuela P. G. M. Lejeune¹, Ilse Nijs¹, Margriet S. Westerterp-Plantenga^1
1Department of Human Biology, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands

 (Received 14 February 2003–Revised 22 September 2003–Accepted 7 November 2003)

The present study was conducted to investigate whether green tea may improve weight maintenance by preventing or limiting weight regain after weight loss of 5 to 10 % in overweight and moderately obese subjects. The study had a randomised, parallel, placebo-controlled design. A total of 104 overweight and moderately obese male and female subjects (age 18–60 years; BMI 25–35 kg/m²) participated. The study consisted of a very-low-energy diet intervention (VLED; 2·1 MJ/d) of 4 weeks followed by a weight-maintenance period of 13 weeks in which the subjects received green tea or placebo. The green tea contained caffeine (104 mg/d) and catechins (573 mg/d, of which 323 mg was epigallocatechin gallate). Subjects lost 6·4 (sd 1·9) kg or 7·5 (sd 2·2) % of their original body weight during the VLED (P<0·001). Body-weight regain was not significantly different between the green tea and the placebo group (30·5 (sd 61·8) % and 19·7 (sd 56·9) %, respectively). In the green tea treatment, habitual high caffeine consumption was associated with a higher weight regain compared with habitual low caffeine consumption (39 (sd 17) and 16 (sd 11) %, respectively; P<0·05). We conclude that weight maintenance after 7·5 % body-weight loss was not affected by green tea treatment and that habitual caffeine consumption affected weight maintenance in the green tea treatment.

Keywords:
Caffeine Epigallocatechin gallate Energy expenditure Substrate oxidation Obesity

Abbreviations:
FFM, fat-free mass, PAL, physical activity level, REE, resting energy expenditure, TEE, total energy expenditure