Research
Hormonal
Green tea extract rich in catechins increases energy expenditure and reduces body fat in humans with higher brown adipose tissue (BAT) activities, likely through the activation of TRPV1/TRPA1 channels rather than COMT inhibition.
Drinking green tea extract rich in catechins daily may slightly reduce body fat (2-3%) if you have active brown fat. The benefit comes from the catechins, not just the caffeine. It is not a magic bullet and requires existing BAT activity to work.
GoodConditionalHIGH confidence
an oral ingestion of catechin-rich tea produced a rapid increase in EE in individuals with higher BAT activities, but not in those with undetectable BAT activities... the thermogenic and fat-reducing effects of green tea extract rich in catechins would be attributable to the activation of BAT
Why this rating
Multiple human studies cited show consistent results in BAT-positive individuals, though one study showed no effect.
Source
Brown Adipose Tissue, Diet-Induced Thermogenesis, and Thermogenic Food Ingredients: From Mice to Men
Masayuki Saito et al. · Frontiers in Endocrinology · 2020
DOI 10.3389/fendo.2020.00222
narrative_reviewCited 234×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Oral ingestion of capsinoids (non-pungent capsaicin analogs) increases whole-body energy expenditure and reduces abdominal fat in humans with metabolically active brown adipose tissue (BAT) through the activation of the TRPV1-SNS-BAT axis.Good
- Brown adipose tissue (BAT) contributes to diet-induced thermogenesis (DIT) in humans, with individuals having higher BAT activity showing significantly higher postprandial energy expenditure compared to those with low BAT activity.Good
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