Green tea extract enhances the anti-inflammatory effects of exercise on fat loss. - GreenMedInfo Summary
Does Green Tea Extract Enhance the Anti-inflammatory Effects of Exercise on Fat Loss?
Br J Clin Pharmacol. 2019 Nov 20. Epub 2019 Nov 20. PMID: 31747468
Reza Bagheri
AIMS: Green tea extract (GTE) can exert anti-obesity and inflammatory effects. Our study determined whether the benefits of GTE are summative with exercise-induced changes in anthropometric indices, and the levels of inflammatory cytokines, adiponectin and irisin in inactive overweight women.
METHODS: Thirty overweight female participants were randomized to three groups: endurance training + placebo (ET+P); endurance training + GTE (ET +GTE); and Control (no exercise) + placebo (Control, N=10). The exercise intervention consisted of an eight-week endurance-training program of three sessions per week [aerobics, aerobic circuit training, and fast walking or jogging at a moderate intensity of 40-59% of the heart rate reserve]. The dose of GTE used was 500 mg/d in the form of a green tea capsule.
RESULTS: Body weight, body mass index (BMI), waist to hip ratio (WHR), and body fat percentage (BFP) were decreased in both ET+P and ET+GTE interventions (P<0.001 for both interventions). The reduction of anthropometric values in the ET+GTE group was significantly higher than ET+P interventions (P<0.001). Both exercise interventions also significantly (P<0.001) increased adiponectin [ET +GTE= 5.28 mg/ml (95% CI, 4.48 to 6.08) and ET+P= 3.34 mg/ml (95% CI, 2.76 to 3.92)] and decreased hs-CRP [ET +GTE= -0.95 mg/l (95% CI, -1.15 to -0.75) and ET+P= -0.35 mg/l (95% CI, -0.46 to -0.24)]. Changes in adiponectin and hs-CRP were greater (P<0.05) in ET+GTE compared to ET+P. There were no significant differences in irisin, IL-6, and TNF-α between the three groups (P>0.05).
CONCLUSIONS: GTE improves exercise-induced body composition by further decreasing exercise-induced changes in weight, BMI, WHR, and BFP. The combination of GTE and exercise also produced greater changes in anti-inflammatory (increases in adiponectin) and metabolic (decreases in hs-CRP) markers than exercise alone.