The fat-busting cuppa
Friday 01 May 2009
Next time you sit down for a cuppa why not swap your traditional English breakfast for a cup of white tea?
Scientists have found that the hand-picked herbal tea could be a key weapon for women battling the bulge.
Tests have shown that compounds in the tea, which is a purer version of black and green teas, prevent the body storing fat and breakdown existing stores.
White tea is made from tender leaves and buds handpicked from the top of the plant, which are thought to be more beneficial than those leaves used in black and green teas.
By using young, relatively unprocessed leaves, white tea helps retain high levels of the fat-busting compounds, the Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism reports. It is also credited as able to help strengthen the bones and lower blood pressure.
Researcher Marc Winnefeld, of German skincare firm Besiresdorf, said that his team had shown that white tea can be an ideal natural source of slimming substances.
But those wishing to give white tea a try should expect to pay around three times more for a box of white tea than regular breakfast tea. All the leaves must be picked by hand and it takes up to 7,000 of them to make just one kilogram of the bulge busting beverage.
Still, Closer reckons it might be worth a try.
By Martiena van der Meer