No Short Term Effect on Energy Expenditure by Consumption of Green Tea Extract (Epigallocatechin-3-Gallate)

Figure 1: EGCG molecule
(HMDB v2.5)

Lonac et al. (Lonac. 2010) recently investigated the effect of supplemental Epigallocatechin-3-Gallate - better known as Green Tea Extract - on resting metabolic rate (RMR) and the thermic effect of feeding (TEF). Marketed as effective weight loss tools, it was to be expected that these extract increase one or the other and thus contribute to a greater overall energy expenditure, BUT this is not what the scientists found. According to their results, the consumption of 7x135 mg/capsule EGCG had no "thermogenic" effect, whatsoever:

Contrary to our hypothesis, RMR was not greater (P = 0.10) following consumption of EGCG (6,740 ± 373 kJ/day) compared with placebo (6,971 ± 352). Similarly, the area under the TEF response curve (Δ energy expenditure) was also unaffected by EGCG (246,808 ± 23,748 vs. 243,270 ± 22,177 kJ; P = 0.88). EGCG had no effect on respiratory exchange ratio at rest (P = 0.29) or throughout the TEF measurement (P = 0.56).

With  RMR and TEF accounting for up to 85% of total daily energy expenditure the use of commercially available EGCG supplement to "burn" off the nasty love handles is absolutely useless.