Green Tea Extreme Review: The Ultimate Green Tea Diet?

I first heard of Green Tea Extreme when a piece of unsolicited bulk e-mail (aka "spam") touting its benefits arrived in my mailbox. Since sending spam is illegal in many countries (including the U.S.), this immediately raised a "red flag", and instantly called the credibility of Green Tea Extreme and its retailers into question.

Nonetheless, I decided to have a closer look at the product.

When I checked it out, I found that the web site selling the stuff claimed that Green Tea Extreme was "America's #1 Selling Green Tea." Not too surprising. Heck, everyone says that.

I also found plenty of "media" references extolling the benefits of green tea, plus an excerpt of a discussion between Oprah and Dr. Perricone. In this discussion, Dr. Perricone guarantees Oprah a minimum of 10 lbs. of weight loss in 6 weeks simply by switching from drinking coffee to green tea.

And of course, there are plenty of the obligatory testimonials, lots of impressive looking data, and even an excerpt from a clinical study performed on green tea.

Although Green Tea Extreme is advertised primarily as a "green tea" supplement, it actually contains two other ingredients.

According to the product web site this makes it "The World's Most Powerful Weight-Loss Combination!"

Really? Uh, hardly. Useful, but not revolutionary, I'd say.

The first additional ingredient in this compilation is...

Citrus aurantium: Standardized for synephrine, a chemical "cousin" to ephedra. Long thought to be a credible alternative to ephedra as a thermogenic ingredient, clinical data validating synephrine's fat burning abilities is in short supply. This study (Obes Rev. 2006 Feb;7(1):79-88) sums it up nicely...

"While some evidence is promising, we conclude that larger and more rigorous clinical trials are necessary to draw adequate conclusions regarding the safety and efficacy of C. aurantium and synephrine alkaloids for promoting weight loss."

One study (Int J Obes (Lond). 2006 May;30(5):764-73), performed on the exact combination of ingredients in the Green Tea Extreme formula did not show earth-shattering results.

2) Guarana: Contains about 10% caffeine, and exhibits antioxidant and diuretic properties. When used in combintation with green tea (as it is here) it is helpful -- mostly because of the caffeine content it contains (the combination of caffeine and green tea for weight loss is a good one). One green tea / guarana study did show an elevation in 24 hour energy expenditure (see Br J Nutr. 2005 Sep;94(3):432-6).

There's no denying green tea is a smart addition to any fat burner. There is some real clinical data that it and its main constituents (polyphenols and catechins like EGCG or epigallocatechin gallate) show some real promise for weight loss (see the full green tea review for validation and clinical references).

Unfortunately, there's nothing about green tea or its active constituents that validate the "lose up to 25 lbs. in 25 days claim."

Despite green tea's promise, there are a few problems with Green Tea Extreme. First, although we are told the amount of green tea in the formula (500 mg), just how potent this extract is—or exactly how much EGCG or caffeine is it standardized for—is not revealed.

A quality green tea product will indicate just how much of the critical polyphenols and catechins it contains. For example, the now discontinued Thermo Dynamx from EAS (reviewed here), contained 360 mg of polyphenols and 270 mg of catechins, including 140 mg of EGCG (that's over 600 mg of active ingredients -- making it WAY more potent than Green Tea Extreme!).

Second, Green Tea Extreme is very pricey. The aforementioned EAS Thermo Dynamx fat burner (based on green and oolong tea extracts combined with caffeine) retailed for $21.50. And it's a decent product. Green Tea Extreme, a product of indeterminate strength and potency, sells for $38 (and no, neither the citrus aurantium nor the guarana add enough value to this formula to justify the price difference).

Bottom line?

It's not like the Green Tea Extreme formula doesn't offer some value (how much so is impossible to really assess). But there are simply better, more potent fat burners and green tea formulas available for much less money. When you factor in the fact this company appears to condone spamming and uses the "free trial offer", it's simply not worth experimenting with it.

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