<B>Beverage</b>

280-283Catechins, the major component of green tea extract, have various physiologic effects. There are few studies, however, on the effects of catechins on body fat reduction in humans. It has been reported that the body mass index (BMI) correlates with the amount of malondialdehyde and thiobarbituric acid–reactive substances in the blood. Researchers at Health Care Products Research Laboratories, Tokyo investigated the effect of catechins on body fat reduction and the relation between oxidized LDL and body fat variables. After a 2-weeks diet run-in period, healthy Japanese men were divided into 2 groups with similar BMI and waist circumference distributions. A 12-week double-blind study was performed in which the subjects ingested 1 bottle oolong tea/day containing 690 mg catechins (green tea extract group; n = 17) or 1 bottle oolong tea/day containing 22 mg catechins (control group; n = 18)