Use Pu-erh tea to lose weight:

Pu-erh tea is one of the most ancient Chinese teas. It has gained recent publicity due to its portrayed weight loss effects. Can pu-erh teas assist in weight loss and how effective they are? These are the questions the consumers would want to have answers of before they commit themselves.

What history and traditional wisdom tell us

Pu-erh tea originated from the Yun-Nan province, South-West of China. It was first traded on the local market in the Pu-erh area. It has since gone through many highs and lows, for example there was a production and trade peak during the late Qing and early Ming Dynasty, described as ‘up to a hundred thousand tea farmers working in the area at one time, harvesting and processing the teas’. Along with the flourishing of the production and trade, the tea started being exported. There were no roads in the mountains at that time. The teas were compressed into cakes or bricks, carried by human porters out of the mountains on trails before being loaded to horse backs to be fruther transported to areas like Tibet for trading.

The Tibetan diet is vastly different from the traditional Chinese diet, heavily meat and dairy dependent due to the local stock raising agriculture. Pu-erh tea has been consumed in this area for a long time, known to assist in digesting the 'hard to digest' food comsumed,  among many other benefits.

Scientific research of pu-erh tea’s weight reduction effects

There have been many recent clinical trials and reviews published in medical journals studing Pu-erh teas' weight reduction effects based on the tradtional wisedom. Following are some links for those who can tolerate scientific papers (warning: not as exciting as fictions, but evidences based!):

• The mechanisms of weight-cutting effect and bioactive components in Pu-erh tea: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22855451
• Improvements of mean body mass index and body weight in preobese and overweight Japanese adults with black Chinese tea (Pu-Erh) water extract: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21745623
• Mechanisms of hypolipidemic and anti-obesity effects of tea and tea polyphenols: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16404708

My opinion

I am a pu-erh tea lover and I drink it because I enjoy it more than anything: its earthy fragrance, smooth texture, refreshing after taste and the deep cleansing feeling afterwards. A cup of good pu-erh after a heavy/rich meal feels like drew from haven! As I consume it on a daily base, its many benefits including weight control are just natural by-products.

For those who intend to use it purely for weight control purpose, the trick is consistency and regularity. Like all other Chinese teas, there is a vast difference in the tea quality. Find a premium supplier and source a good quality product. Make it part of your healthy life style, including being active and eat healthy. As demonstrated above, both traditional wisdom and modern science have proven that pu-erh tea is effective in helping to lose and control weight and body fat deposit. You will feel the difference once it is taken up and starts replacing some of the conventional sugar rich drinks in your diet.