Black Tea

After they’re harvested, black tea leaves are allowed to oxidize — that is, soak up the surrounding air — longer than other teas, according to a past review. This intensifies the flavor, making black tea one of the boldest varieties on the market.


Prolonged oxidation, which is commonly referred to as “fermentation,” also changes the makeup of polyphenols, or plant compounds, in black tea. While it does contain EGCG like less-processed tea varieties, it’s a better source of theaflavins. These polyphenols form when black tea leaves are oxidized, and they may offer weight loss benefits, according to a review published in April 2018 in Molecules.
For example, a past study found that men and women who drank three cups of powdered black tea per day gained less weight and slimmed their waistlines after three months, compared with those who didn’t drink black tea. But these changes had not continued at a six-month follow-up point, so these effects of black tea appear to be limited.
Retelny says that the polyphenols in black tea may work by lowering calorie intake and decreasing the absorption of fats and carbs.


The polyphenols may also alter gut bacteria in a way that combats obesity. In a study published in September 2017 in the European Journal of Nutrition, researchers fed a group of obese mice a high-fat, high-sugar diet and supplemented it with black tea extract. After four weeks, these animals dropped to the same weight as a group of obese mice that were fed a low-fat diet. When researchers took samples from the animals’ intestines, they found that the black tea group had fewer gut bacteria associated with obesity and more bacteria related to lean tissue. The results are far from conclusive though. More research is needed to see if these effects hold true for humans.

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