Green tea has been bandied about as a diet hack for centuries. Now, green tea has followed the inevitable trajectory of any weight loss trick: it's getting big on TikTok. Photo / Joyce Lee, The New York Times
Green tea has been bandied about as a diet hack for centuries. Now, green tea has followed the inevitable trajectory of any weight loss trick: it's getting big on TikTok. Photo / Joyce Lee, The New York Times
What experts said about the beverage’s link to weight loss.
Q: I keep seeing TikToks calling green tea “nature’s Ozempic”. Is there any truth to that?
Green tea has been bandied about as a diet hack for centuries: In ancient China 2000 years ago, people toutedthe beverage as a weight loss tool. In modern times, the drink has been a staple of diet books and meal plans.
Now, green tea has followed the inevitable trajectory of any weight loss trick: it’s getting big on TikTok. Viral videos claim the drink aids with shedding pounds, going so far as to call it “nature’s Ozempic”. Some posts suggest drinking as many as five cups a day.
While there is some research into green tea and weight, the evidence on whether a mug (or several) can melt away pounds is unclear, said Jyotsna Ghosh, an obesity medicine doctor at Johns Hopkins University.
Many of the TikTok videos claim that green tea boosts the production of GLP-1, a gut hormone that prompts the pancreas to release insulin after a meal. That insulin, in turn, lowers blood sugar. GLP-1 also slows down the rate at which food leaves the stomach, and it affects areas of the brain that regulate hunger.
Ozempic and drugs like it deliver a compound that mimics GLP-1, making people feel fuller faster. Many stop experiencing strong cravings for food.
Some researchers have theorised that green tea might stimulate GLP-1, in part because studies have found green tea extract can lower blood sugar in diabetic mice. But there have been only a few small studies in humans, and the results are inconclusive. One of the few clinical trials on the subject, which looked at 92 people with Type 2 diabetes, suggested there was not a notable difference in GLP-1 production between people who took green tea extract and those who took a placebo pill.
Any effect green tea might have on GLP-1 is likely to be small, experts said. Any food or drink can increase GLP-1 levels slightly, Ghosh said. But GLP-1 levels in the bloodstream dip minutes after you eat or drink something; that’s one of the reasons we get hungry again, and why temporarily boosting the hormone does not guarantee weight loss.
Ozempic and similar drugs, by contrast, linger in the body for days, and are far more potent than the natural hormone, which makes them uniquely good at suppressing appetite.
Green tea has been used as a weight loss aid for more than 2000 years, starting in ancient China. Photo / 123rf
Does green tea help with weight loss?
Many of the claims about green tea and weight loss mention two components of the drink: caffeine and antioxidants.
Caffeine might, in theory, slightly speed up someone’s metabolism. But it is unlikely that effect would translate directly into substantial weight loss, Ghosh said.
Green tea also contains compounds called polyphenols, antioxidants that can help protect cells from damage and reduce inflammation. Studies in animals and in human cells have suggested these compounds could improve metabolism and reduce fat absorption from the gut. But trials in humans have had mixed results.
There have also been several small studies looking directly at whether green tea is linked to weight loss. One review paper, which looked at over a dozen such randomised controlled trials, found that people taking green tea extract often lost a tiny amount of weight that “is not likely to be clinically important”. Other studies have also found that people who consumed green tea tended to lose a small amount of weight, typically under 4 pounds (1.8kg).
People turning to green tea to lose weight “can’t expect a big effect, and certainly nothing close to medications like Ozempic,” said Rob van Dam, a professor of exercise and nutrition sciences at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University.
Julia Zumpano, a registered dietitian at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, added that focusing on a single food or drink ignored the many other factors that played a role in weight loss. Those include a person’s broader diet, exercise habits, genetics, stress, metabolic health and even the quality of sleep an individual gets.
“Look at how you can improve lifestyle, if weight loss is your goal,” she said. “Not just specifically one food, drug, supplement, whatever it might be.”
