Dietary tea catechins increase fecal energy in rats.

Much attention has been paid to the beneficial health effect of tea catechins as one of the effective strategies to prevent obesity. The current study was carried out to investigate the role of tea catechins on the utilization of dietary energy sources in rats. The addition of 1% (w/w) tea catechins, mostly in gallate forms, to the diet brought about significant reductions in body weight gains and abdominal adipose tissue weights after 4-wk feeding periods compared to the control.