Paiyouji tea is one of the many herbal weight loss teas to hit the market recently. Makers of the tea claim that it controls blood glucose levels and suppresses the appetite to facilitate weight loss. There are several ingredients in Paiyouji tea that claim to offer different fat loss related benefits. The active ingredients in Paiyouji tea include chitosan, oligosaccharides and konjaku flour. Since Paiyouji tea has not been approved by the FDA as a weight loss supplement, the ingredients should be examined carefully before deciding to use it for those purposes. Paiyouji tea also lacks an official website, and testimonials that seem credible are nowhere to be found.

Let’s take a closer look at what Paiyouji tea contains and examine the ingredients individually.

• Glucomannan

The konjaku flour found in Paiyouji tea contains a fiber called glucomannan that is reported to absorb several times its weight in water. According to a study published in the International Journal of Obesity conducted by D.E Walsh et al, glucomannan can help dieters lose weight. Dr. Ray Sahelian, however, warns that glucomannan does have some uncomfortable side effects including excessive flatulence and abdominal pain. Glucomannan can also prevent the absorption of nutrients and other medicines or supplements.

Oligosaccharides

The oligosaccharide in this Paiyouji tea can compound the gastrointestinal side effects, as they act as a soluble fiber. Common side effects of oligosaccharides include a strong laxative effect and excess gas production in the colon. Oligosaccharides act as soluble fiber. Using products with oligosaccharide can increase production of gases in your colon. This substance also causes a laxative effect.

• Chitin

The chitin in Paiyouji tea is actually chitosan. Chitosan is a polysaccharide extracted from crustacean shells that reportedly absorbs fats and oils similarly to how glucomannan absorbs water. The story is that chitosan pulls dietary fats into a ball that the body cannot digest, causing it to pass in the stool undigested. There is some evidence to support these claims, although no conclusive research can be found to links chitosan to effective weight loss. Like glucomannan, chitosan can also prevent the absorption of necessary nutrients including fat soluble vitamins.

• Vitamin C

Vitamin C has many health benefits. It facilitates healing, s vital to collagen production, supports healthy immune function, and improves the health of the teeth and gums. As far as having any effect on weight loss, the doses required would lead to unpleasant side effects. Excessive vitamin C doses can lead to migraines, nausea, kidney stones and dizziness.

Although the marketing behind Paiyouji tea makes numerous claims of its effectiveness for weight loss, data to back up these claims just doesn’t exist. Paiyouji is not really like green tea or other Chinese herbal teas like Oolong tea that have numerous studies confirming their effectiveness. In fact, it’s not really an herbal tea, but a collection of ingredients put into a tea bag. Semantics, you might say, but calling it a tea implies that it is made from tea leaves and may have polythenols which have proven benefits, which Paiyouji tea does not.

There is a long list of proven fat loss ingredients out there, but unfortunately Paiyouji tea doesn’t contain any of them. It is basically a fiber supplement with a bit of vitamin C thrown in. It has no impact on metabolic rate or fat mobilizations, and claims that it absorbs calories in the stomach preventing them from being digested are only loosely corroborated by any real research. Paiyouji also lacks and of the cleansing and antioxidant properties of teas like Oolong tea and Pu-erh tea.

Conclusion

Paiyouji tea may not be all it’s cracked up to be, but if you came to this article looking for a real weight loss tea with proven ingredients and hundreds of glowing testimonials, I’m not going to send you away empty handed. This tea does exist; it’s called Tava Tea. It is a blend of green sencha, oolong and pu-erh teas, all of which have been shown to facilitate increased metabolic rate, more efficient digestion, blood cleansing, and improved liver function.

Research also suggests that these teas can prevent cancer, improve eyesight and remove LDL cholesterol (the bad stuff) from the blood. You can choose Tava tea and get all of these benefits in one product, or you could choose Paiyouji tea and have serious gas. I’d hardly call that a tough decision.

There are some great products out there like Tava Tea that have proven weight loss benefits and user testimonials to back them up. Unfortunately, unscrupulous companies try to cash in on current trends my using hype marketing to promote inferior products that only help you lose weight from your wallet. The fact that you did some research on Paiyouji tea before pulling out your credit card puts you ahead of the pack.

To learn more about the benefits of Tava Tea and learn what separates it from pack, visit their official website here.