Green tea vs. Green tea extract

[Harris Y]

I ran a search, nothing came up, so I figured I'd post a thread.

I'm going to start cutting as soon as my bottle of Yellow Bullet comes in. Anyway, I wanted to add some form of green tea into my diet, so:

Should I drink green tea, or take the extract pills?
What's more effective?
If I do drink the tea, how much should I drink? Thanks.

-Harris

[Champion510]

I'm glad that you asked this question
I've the same question.. I drink about 2-3 cups of green tea a day.

[sonicology]

Depends if you like drinking tea! I drink several cups of white tea a day (often more than 5) but still usually take extract to make sure I am getting enough EGCg.

This study seems to suggest that taking extract is at least as good as drinking tea;

Bioavailability and antioxidant activity of tea flavanols after consumption of green tea, black tea, or a green tea extract supplement.

Am J Clin Nutr. 2004 Dec;80(6):1558-64.

Henning SM, Niu Y, Lee NH, Thames GD, Minutti RR, Wang H, Go VL, Heber D.
Center for Human Nutrition, David Geffen School of Medicine and the Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles, 90095, USA.

BACKGROUND: Green and black tea polyphenols have been extensively studied as cancer chemopreventive agents. Many in vitro experiments have supported their strong antioxidant activity. Additional in vivo studies are needed to examine the pharmacokinetic relation of absorption and antioxidant activity of tea polyphenols administered in the form of green or black tea or tea extract supplements. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to compare the pharmacokinetic disposition of tea polyphenols and their effect on the antioxidant capacity in plasma 8 h after a bolus consumption of either green tea, black tea, or a green tea extract supplement. DESIGN: Thirty healthy subjects were randomly assigned to 3 different sequences of green tea, black tea, or a green tea extract supplement in a 3 x 3 crossover design with a 1-wk washout period in between treatments. RESULTS: Flavanol absorption was enhanced when tea polyphenols were administered as a green tea supplement in capsule form and led to a small but significant increase in plasma antioxidant activity compared with when tea polyphenols were consumed as black tea or green tea. All 3 interventions provided similar amounts of (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate. CONCLUSIONS: Our observations suggest that green tea extract supplements retain the beneficial effects of green and black tea and may be used in future chemoprevention studies to provide a large dose of tea polyphenols without the side effects of caffeine associated with green and black tea beverages.

[Harris Y]

I think the taste of tea is decent. I can sacrifice flavor for results. I just want to consume whatever will be most effective in my cut.

Great study though, thanks for posting.

What brand of tea do you drink?

[sonicology]

Originally Posted by Harris Y

What brand of tea do you drink?

I drink many different teas, but one one of the best is Clipper;

Clipper Tea Website

Not sure if you can get it in the US though. Have you tried white tea before? It has a higher catechin content than green tea and in my subjective opinion tastes better too.

[B P Spin]

Green tea vs Green tea extract vs Green Goblin vs Green Lantern vs Green Hornet vs the Juggernaut vs NOXplode.

[Cybernaut]

I think generally it's probably easier to do the extract pill, plus the benefit is you can get a lot more of the 'potent' part of the green tree in the extract, sometimes equivalent to 5 to 10 glasses of green tea or more per pill. If you take 2 or 3 pills / day, it could be difficult to maintain the equivalent amount of actual green tea - especially if you don't like it.
Another benefit of the pill is you could get a 'combo' type pill with some other good stuff in it, for like energy or something.

[AConrad00]

I think to get the benefits of the green tea, you'd need to be drinking a large amount

green tea extract for the win, but drink green tea for overall health, relaxation and taste

be careful to not add any dairy to tea, studies published in the new england journal of medecine have shown that any effects on the blood nduced after drinking green tea were severely diminished when adding milk/cream to brewed hot tea

[Harris Y]

Originally Posted by sonicology

I drink many different teas, but one one of the best is Clipper;

Clipper Tea Website

Not sure if you can get it in the US though. Have you tried white tea before? It has a higher catechin content than green tea and in my subjective opinion tastes better too.

I actually haven't tried white tea, but I want to. Not real, potent white tea. I've had some Nestea bull**** that tasted like it was packed with sugar. Amazon.com sells Clipper tea, I'll probably order some of the white tea, it looks pretty good. Do they add sugar to the flavored ones though? Such as the raspberry and cinnamon flavored teas?

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gr...ywords=clipper

I just picked up a gallon of, surprisingly, very healthy Arizona Diet Green Tea and it tasted pretty good. So I'd like to replicate the taste with some tea that I'd brew at home, which would be cheaper.

So maybe I'll take extract pills and drink green tea, just not overdo it. From the responses I've gotten it seems to me like, for the the dieting, or fat loss aspect of it, I should take the caplets. But at the same time, for overall health and taste, I should drink the tea. So I plan to incorporate both.

Thanks for all the great responses guys.

[Bad Newz]

Originally Posted by Harris Y

I ran a search, nothing came up, so I figured I'd post a thread.

I'm going to start cutting as soon as my bottle of Yellow Bullet comes in. Anyway, I wanted to add some form of green tea into my diet, so:

Should I drink green tea, or take the extract pills?
What's more effective?
If I do drink the tea, how much should I drink? Thanks.

-Harris

Did you just say Yellow Bullet as in Energy Pills?

I actually just returned a bottle of it today...They did not work at all...I also saw a couple of other bottles of Yellow Bullet behind the counter which looked to be returns as well...

I can take Vivarin everyday(Have for years) and still feel the effects...For some reason stimulants do not wear off on me, but the Yellow Bullets did absolutely nothing...

Hopefully you will have better luck with these than I did...

[Harris Y]

I mean, Yellow Bullet as in ephedra. I haven't seen it sold over the counter because of the ban a few years back, so we're probably thinking of different pills.

[Bad Newz]

Originally Posted by Harris Y

I mean, Yellow Bullet as in ephedra. I haven't seen it sold over the counter because of the ban a few years back, so we're probably thinking of different pills.

Yeah it has 25 mg of ephedra and 300 mg of caffeine per pill, correct?

I had originally picked up AMP and then I decided to ask the guy behind the counter what he thought was the strongest supplement for energy was...He said probably one of the "ephedra" products...He grabbed the Yellow Bullets see link:

http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.c...278883border=1

I too thought they were banned, but this nutrition store actually has a bunch of supplements that aren't made anymore...Including the original AX Superdrol (Red Bottle)

I know it's the same product, but good luck

[sonicology]

Originally Posted by Harris Y

Do they add sugar to the flavored ones though? Such as the raspberry and cinnamon flavored teas?

Nope, no sugar. They don't use chlorine to bleach the tea-bags either, which is another plus.

Good luck with your cut by the way.

[nnjj112255kkllo9]

I take green tea extract and it does good for me for food cravings...Cant stomach green tea for soem reason and get a kick out of it when people are drinking green tea w/ sugar to curb their appetite.

[nmicheals]

I like green tea but from what I have heard it is pretty hard to drink enough in a day to get the amount of EGCG's that you need to be effective. This supplement has so many good properitys that I see no reason to not take the extract. Then if you still want to drink some grean tea on top of that go ahead. BTW Panera Bread has great green tea.

[Harris Y]

Originally Posted by Bad Newz

Yeah it has 25 mg of ephedra and 300 mg of caffeine per pill, correct?

I had originally picked up AMP and then I decided to ask the guy behind the counter what he thought was the strongest supplement for energy was...He said probably one of the "ephedra" products...He grabbed the Yellow Bullets see link:

http://us.st11.yimg.com/us.st.yimg.c...278883border=1

I too thought they were banned, but this nutrition store actually has a bunch of supplements that aren't made anymore...Including the original AX Superdrol (Red Bottle)

I know it's the same product, but good luck

Hmmm. Same product, you are correct.

I figure, 25mg of Ephedra, most ephedra products have that much. I've seen Vasopro work for people, and that also has 25mg. Maybe the caffeine has something to do with it? No idea.

Originally Posted by sonicology

Nope, no sugar. They don't use chlorine to bleach the tea-bags either, which is another plus.

Good luck with your cut by the way.

Great, I'll definitely take your word for it and order some as soon as possible.

Now if I were refridgerate it, can I drink it as iced tea? I'm new to this whole tea thing, sorry if it's an obvious question.

[sonicology]

Originally Posted by Harris Y

Now if I were refridgerate it, can I drink it as iced tea?

Sure! I usually drink my tea hot, but sometimes I have it cold with just a little bit of pure apple juice added to sweeten it.

[Harris Y]

Originally Posted by sonicology

Sure! I usually drink my tea hot, but sometimes I have it cold with just a little bit of pure apple juice added to sweeten it.

I definitely prefer iced tea. Especially with Summer coming up, and heat waves, I'll need something cold with flavor to satisfy my sweet tooth.

Awesome, I can't wait to get my case.