It is so easy to gain weight. For some people, it seems just the act of gazing at chocolate cake forces their thighs to disturbing proportions. This leads many dieters to try diet supplements to help them get, and stay, on track. Since so much information has come out about the health benefits of green tea lately, green tea pills are the next big thing in the diet supplement industry.

Naturally, the health benefits attributed to green tea by the health supplement industry are endless, so before we discuss green tea pills, let’s just discuss those green tea health benefits that we know to be true:

• The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed that when large amounts of green tea were taken by study subjects before they exercised it increased the amount of calories these subjects burned while doing the exercise, compared to those exercising without the green tea. . The study states that green tea helped increase the amount of fat burning the body could do but did not specify whether this was a result of EGCG, a chemical component of green tea, or because of the caffeine you find in green tea.
• As mentioned above, green tea has a component inside called EGCG. EGCG has been shown to protect brain cells in mice from dying. Researchers are currently determining how this information may help humans in their fight against Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.
• Green tea also contains antioxidants—more so than black tea. These antioxidants have proven helpful in fighting against cancer. Cancer is ‘created’ when cells in your body are damaged and changed. Sometimes, the cells are damaged when they are attacked by cells roaming your body, missing one of their electrons. These damaging cells are called free radicals and, when attempting to replace their missing electron, they steal it from one of your healthy cells. This causes your healthy cell to become damaged and it then becomes a free radical. Antioxidants can stop this cycle by coupling with the free radicals to provide that missing electron.

Green tea pills claim to offer all the health benefits of green tea within an easy to swallow capsule. Unfortunately, we do not know how much processing the green tea goes through before it is finalized as a green tea pill. It could be the leaves go through minimal processing and retain enough of their natural components to keep all of the benefits ascribed to them. Or, it could be that the high level of processing the leaves must go through strip the remaining material of its healthy EGCG, antioxidants and whatever else it may have.

It is also important to remember that green tea pills contain caffeine. Many manufacturers of green tea pills claim that they contain less caffeine than a cup of coffee. It could be that they are understating the caffeine amount in order to compel consumers to buy it or, maybe there really isn’t that much caffeine.

The Food and Drug Administration has yet to weigh in on the health or efficacy of green tea pills. It’s doubtful they will in the next decade, so consumers must proceed carefully unless the FDA states that they are safe.

Should you determine that taking green tea pills for your diet plan is the right way to go, you should talk to your primary care physician before you actually do take them. If you are on any other medications or have any health concerns that caffeine and green tea could impact, it’s important to discuss this with your primary care physician and get his or her “okay” before you begin taking them.