Can drinking tea make you thin?

According to a story in Reuters, Chinese scientists claim to have proved that tea can help make you thin.

Researchers spent five years studying obesity, with the focus on children, the China Daily said.

"They (Chinese researchers) found that the polyphenol compound in tea -- especially Oolong tea -- can help obese people battle the bulge," the newspaper said. "Scientists have proved that drinking tea can help people lose weight."

Guo Xirong, director of the Nanjing Institute for Paediatrics, particularly recommends Oolong tea, the newspaper said.

"It has been confirmed that the continuous intake of Oolong tea contributes to enhancing the function of fat metabolism and to controlling obesity," it says of a tea produced and consumed primarily in the southeast of the country.

It goes without saying that there is not a lot of transparency in the findings and that the China Daily story did not appear to site the studies nor were they necessarily published in peer reviewed medical journals. But it would not be surprising if it was true as there have been a number of properly conducted and reviewed studies that have shown benefits of tea consumption. Furthermore, if it is a choice of having a tea or a soft drink, the non-consumption of the soft drink alone makes tea a very beneficial drink.

Link to Chinese Oolong Tea web site
Link to Reuters story

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