The next wonder weight loss plan: Green Tea

You have to love marketing. It’s not enough anymore that a beverage could be good for you. It now has to have a lifestyle component - i.e. helping you fight cancer (by drinking antioxidants like berries) or, more importantly, losing weight.

Nestle and Coca-Cola have teamed up with a brilliant new drink called Enviga. Launched in February, it’s a can of green tea that claims, right on the can, to help you lose weight. There is a disclaimer though- you must be between the ages of 22 and 35 to enjoy the full benefits of the weight loss and you must drink several cans a day.

As I read the can myself, all I could think of was: why not just walk a few times around the block instead?

The key is in increasing the metabolism. From the Columbia News Service:

But the beverage has been disappearing off shelves of drugstores since its launch in February. The reason? Claims by manufacturers that that consuming three cans of Enviga a day–at five calories a can–helps burn up to 106 calories.

“I don’t exercise and I try drinking health drinks because they keep you fit,” said one fan, Noelia Ramos, 22.

Coke and Nestle are taking a big risk marketing the drink as an easy way to weight loss. The lawyers have already begun circling:

The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), a nonprofit consumer group in Washington, has sued the two companies for misleading consumers by making what it says are fraudulent claims.

“The company is being very crafty,” said Ilene Heller, a senior staff attorney with the group.

The Connecticut attorney general, Richard Blumenthal, has also begun an investigation into the company’s assertions, which he calls “voodoo nutrition.”

Coke and Nestle haven’t put Enviga out there without testing the weight loss claims. They’re not THAT dumb.

A CSPI senior nutritionist, David Schardt, questioned what he termed the “misleading” findings of the study conducted by Coke and Nestle to support their claim.

The research in question involved 31 young men and women who ate strict calorie-controlled diets and drank the equivalent of three cans of Enviga each day for three days. They spent the third day in a special chamber that measured how many calories they had burned. The study concluded that most burned slightly more calories after drinking Enviga.

“The findings of the Enviga study are not based on sound science and are deceptive to consumers,” Schardt said. “This study was too short and the research was very preliminary and inconclusive. What happens after three days?” Schardt asked.

European studies conducted earlier have indicated that the calorie-burning effect doesn’t last beyond three days, he added.

But do people care if it lasts only a few days? Apparently not. Americans are transfixed with a quick route to weight loss that doesn’t involve any physical exercise. It goes back to the “you can have it all” mentality. Party hard, eat whatever you want, never exercise and still keep the perfect figure.

For the first time in years, Coke actually has a product that is flying off the shelves. Coke shareholders have to be pleased. Coke will do whatever they can to protect it on the shelves.

But what about green tea in general? Go down the “weight loss” aisle in your local Walgreens. There, next to the slimfast, you will find several manufacturers touting green tea as the cure for weight loss (usually in the form of pills or powders to be mixed with water.)

Sounds like it’s a bunch of hooey.

From Newsweek:

The Food and Drug Administration says there is no scientific evidence that drinking green tea reduces heart disease, and the agency rejected a petition last year that sought to allow the claim on tea labels. The FDA previously said that green tea probably does not reduce the risk of breast, prostate or any other type of cancer.

“Green tea has a lot of wonderful active compounds that may play a role in fighting cancer and heart disease and even protecting the lining of the arteries,” says Dave Grotto, spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association. “But there needs to be a lot more research.”

Despite many claims to the contrary, it probably doesn’t help with weight loss, either. Some studies suggest that green tea’s polyphenols may boost metabolism and help burn fat.

Unfortunately, “there’s nothing magic about green tea,” says Dr. Frank Greenway, head of the outpatient clinic at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, La., who studies herbal supplements and obesity. “I’ll be surprised if it is shown to have any profound effect on weight loss.”

It’s too bad. I kind of liked the idea of drinking my way to health. But Coke and Nestle know all too well, that a little bit of marketing can go a long way in the new Cola, er, tea, wars.