Women who consumed green tea extract daily showed improvements in their fat tissue, according to a trial reported in the December 7, 2022, issue of Nutrients.¹ The study participants were overweight or obese and had gone through menopause, a phase in life when there is often an increase in abdominal (visceral) fat. This is particularly worrisome because increased fat deposited around the abdominal organs secretes proinflammatory chemicals that increase the risk of metabolic disorders.

While weight gain itself may not be due to menopause and appears to gradually increase with aging, hormonal changes caused by ovarian aging can affect body composition by increasing total body fat.

Women who received green tea extract had improvements in indicators of adipose (fat tissue) health, including specific metabolic markers, compared to a group that received a placebo. They also showed improvements in insulin and insulin resistance, waist circumference and C-reactive protein (CRP, a marker of inflammation) at the end of the trial.

"These results demonstrate that a 60-day green tea extract [intake] counteracts the dysfunction of adipose tissue in overweight postmenopausal and class I obese women," authors Mariangela Rondanelli of the University of Pavia and colleagues concluded.

The 60-day trial included 28 overweight or obese inactive women who were an average age of 58.75 years old. Half of the women received 150 milligrams of a green tea extract that contained between 19% and 25% beneficial catechins and at least 13% EGCG (the major catechin in green tea) and the remainder of the participants received a placebo for 60 days.