Teavigo EGCG Extract
Best Green Tea Supplement?

Perhaps the best green tea supplement in term of quality, the Teavigo EGCG extract from DSM Nutritional Products is used in many scientific studies.

The Teavigo brand was previously owned by DSM Nutritional, which is the grand-daddy of the supplements world. Formerly known as the Roche Vitamins and Fine Chemicals Division, the Swiss company has been making vitamins since 1935.

In 2014, the Teavigo business was transferred to Taiyo. Taiyo, of course, is a pioneer of tea-based ingredients, having been in tea business since 1945. They also own the Sunphenon brand that is also widely used in scientific studies.

According to Taiyo, Teavigo provides the best of green tea in its purest form with a minimum of 94% purity on a dry basis.

Made with the highest safety standard, this is the only green tea supplement that I have come across that is guaranteed to be free of caffeine, free of herbicide and free of pesticide residue.

There is no bitter aftertaste, as with some other green tea extracts, and it is water soluble.

Ingredients

  • Minimum of 94% EGCG.
  • Maximum of 5% for the other catechins.
  • Caffeine free (less than 0.1%)

Each bottle comes with 150 mg tablets. It is recommended that you take two daily.

The tablets are also tiny and very easy to swallow. A user remarked:

"I noted that the other products have a lot of fillers. This product is in a small capsule and has the EGCG without a lot of ground up leaves."

"When I tasted the EGCG from out of the capsule, my whole mouth puckered up with its astringent quality. It feels like you had more than a strong cup of green tea. This is what I wanted. I feel like it is the real thing. It makes me feel like I got my money's worth."

Backed by Research Studies

Taiyo cutting edge research and close links with the scientific community means it gets tested extensively during scientific trials. All three studies below used Teavigo EGCG extract when testing for green tea health benefits.

Lose Weight

Dr. Sven Wolfrom (who wrote extensive on green tea and weight loss) conducted a mice study in 2005. He found that mice that consumed EGCG are significantly less likely to become obese by eating fatty food. He concluded "EGCG should be considered as a valuable natural treatment option for obesity."

Prevent Diabetes

The same team conducted another study in 2006. They found that EGCG significantly improved the conditions of rats suffering from type 2 diabetes. He concluded that "EGCG beneficially modifies glucose and lipid metabolism ... and enhances glucose tolerance in diabetic rodents."

Keep Fit

The Kao Corporation conducted a mice study in 2004. They discovered that EGCG improved endurance levels by 8% to 24% after a 10-week period. The results were particularly impressive because it was dose-dependent - i.e. mice that consumed more EGCG showed greater endurance improvement.

There are a total 28 research studies documented in the Teavigoinfo website that use this product.

Weight Loss Study

Drinking green tea helps to lose weight slowly. But when it comes to supplements, things get slightly complicated.

Scientists have found that EGCG synergizes with caffeine to promote thermogenesis (heat burning). This means that green tea compounds, when they interact with each other, are worth much more than the sum of their parts.

Just taking EGCG alone may not be as effective as drinking tea or taking an herbal blend.

A 2007 study conducted by Dr. Alison Hill of Queen's University in Ontario investigated if Teavigo EGCG extract can reduce abdominal fat in fat people. 38 people took 150 milligrams capsule of EGCG twice daily for 12 weeks.

Researchers found that those taking green tea extract have lower heart rate and blood sugar level. However, there is no evidence of fat loss. They concluded as follows:

loss of body fat ... may require a higher intake of EGCG, other catechins [tea compounds] or addition of metabolic stimulants [such as caffeine].

Recommendation

Teavigo EGCG extract is the only green tea supplement that I would wholeheartedly recommend. It is free of herbicides and pesticides.

This is the green tea extract that has been used in many green tea studies. We live in a world where manufacturers have been consistently found to overstate their claims. Teavigo is as true and proven as it gets.

There are lots of low quality tea gardens in Asia. Without FDA approval, tea supplement manufacturers have every incentive to make a quick profit by selling cheap tea extract contaminated with environmental pollutants. Products that come with Teavigo's Seal of Guarantee offer a real alternative as they are continuously being tested.

All these, however, do come at a price. One bottle costs $14 at the time of writing. It contains 60 caps with each cap contains 150 milligrams of catechins. If you take 300 milligrams a day, the bottle will run out in a month.

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References

Wolfram S, Raederstorff D, Wang Y, Teixeira SR, Elste V, Weber P (2005). TEAVIGO (epigallocatechin gallate) supplementation prevents obesity in rodents by reducing adipose tissue mass. Ann Nutr Metab. 2005 Jan-Feb;49(1):54-63. Epub 2005 Feb 25.

Swen Wolfram, Daniel Raederstorff, Mareike Preller, Ying Wang, Sandra R. Teixeira, Christoph Riegger and Peter Weber (2006). Epigallocatechin Gallate Supplementation Alleviates Diabetes in Rodents. J. Nutr. 136:2512-2518, October 2006

Takatoshi Murase, Satoshi Haramizu, Akira Shimotoyodome, Azumi Nagasawa, and Ichiro Tokimitsu (2004). Green tea extract improves endurance capacity and increases muscle lipid oxidation in mice.Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 288: R708-R715, 2005. First published November 24, 2004;

Alison M. Hill, BAppSc(Hons), Alison M. Coates, PhD, Jonathan D. Buckley, PhD, Robert Ross, PhD, Frank Thielecke, PhD and Peter R.C. Howe, PhD (2007). Can EGCG Reduce Abdominal Fat in Obese Subjects? Journal of the American College of Nutrition, Vol. 26, No. 4, 396S-402S (2007)

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