Oolong tea is a traditional Chinese tea that has long been believed to be beneficial to health such as decreasing body fat.

An interesting (short) article about the health benefits of oolong for the more scientifically inclined, from the Japanese University of Tokushima School of Medicine.

We were interested in this assertion and tried to evaluate the effect of oolong tea on energy expenditure (EE) in comparison with green tea. The subjects were eleven healthy Japanese females (age 20+/-1 y; body mass index (BMI) 21.2+/-2.5 kg/m2) who each consumed of three treatments in a crossover design: 1) water, 2) oolong tea, 3) green tea. Resting energy expenditure (REE) and EE after the consumption of the test beverage for 120 min were measured using an indirect calorimeter. The cumulative increases of EE for 120 min were significantly increased 10% and 4% after the consumption of oolong tea and green tea, respectively. EE at 60 and 90 min were significantly higher after the consumption of oolong tea than that of water (P<0.05). In comparison with green tea, oolong tea contained approximately half the caffeine and epigallocatechin galate, while polymerized polyphenols were double. These results suggest that oolong tea increases EE by its polymerized polyphenols.

(By
Komatsu T, Nakamori M, Komatsu K, Hosoda K, Okamura M, Toyama K, Ishikura Y, Sakai T, Kunii D, Yamamoto S,
Department of Applied Nutrition, The University of Tokushima School of Medicine, Tokushima, Japan, Aug 2003)

Article URL: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=13678386&dopt=Abstract