Wulong Tea: Does it Really Promote Weight Loss?

Have you heard the advertisements for a weight loss product called Wulong Slimming tea? It's being heavily marketed as the latest "quick fix" weight loss plan. Does this tea really help to promote weight loss or is it another clever marketing gimmick? The answer may lie somewhere in between.

While Wulong Slimming tea sounds may sound like a special product with proprietary ingredients that only the product originators have privy to, this tea is already widely available in most natural food markets and health food store under the name of oolong tea. Oolong tea comes from the Camellia senensis plant, just as do black and green teas. The difference lies in the amount of processing the three types of tea undergo.

Black tea is the most processed of the three teas since it's allowed to undergo a fermentation process that gives it a dark, rich flavor before being packaged. In the process many of the catechins that give tea its health benefits are removed. In contrast, green tea is steamed in order to stop the fermentation process and allowed to dry naturally. It retains most of the desirable, healthy catechins. Oolong tea lies somewhere in between in terms of processing. It's allowed to partially ferment, but not as much as black tea, so it retains some catechins.

Oolong tea began to receive real attention after a 2003 study conducted on eleven Japanese women showed that consumption of oolong tea increased resting energy expenditure. The study not only looked at the effect of oolong tea on metabolic rate, but also that of green tea. The study demonstrated that green tea increased energy expenditure by four percent while oolong tea increased it by around ten percent. While it was believed that the increase in metabolic rate was related to the polyphenols present in the teas, the green tea had more polyphenols than the oolong tea due to the fact that it was less processed. Why did oolong increase the metabolic rate of the women more? It was determined that the oolong tea contained more polymerized polyphenols than the green tea which probably accounted for the greater boost in metabolic rate.

According to this one very small study, it does appear that not only does oolong tea boost metabolic rate, it also raises it more than does green tea. Although this is encouraging, large trials haven't been conducted to verify these results. Still, there are lots of anecdotal reports that oolong tea helps to promote weight loss. Thus, Wulong tea probably does have some effect on metabolic rate.

Unfortunately, the amount of weight loss seen with Wulong or oolong tea is unlikely to be dramatic even if sipped throughout the day. Previous studies have shown that green tea increases metabolic weight when drank in large enough quantity, but the number of extra calories burned only amounts to around eighty calories in a day. With oolong tea, it should be higher but is still unlikely to be over 200 extra calories burned per day. Still, if sipped consistently over time along with a healthy diet and exercise program, it may be a useful weight loss adjuvant.

The bottom line? Wulong tea probably does up the metabolic rate at least slightly but the weight loss achieved with this product probably won't be dramatic unless combined with a sensible diet and weight loss program. It would also be more cost effective to buy oolong tea from your local health food store rather than invest in more costly Wulong tea.