DE29816696U1 - Diet drink - Google Patents

Description

98l334de JH/ml

Diet drink

The application concerns a diet drink which contains a tea infusion made from flowers and leaves of mallow plants as a dietetic ingredient.

Obesity, caused by a diet that is too rich and/or unbalanced, and the associated secondary diseases are among the greatest economic problems of our time. There are countless weight loss drugs, fitness and diet programs, which are generally neither particularly effective nor inexpensive.

For thousands of years, people from all cultures have known about the positive effects of herbs on health and have appreciated their healing powers. Herbal teas in particular have recently been successfully used again as a tried and tested home remedy for everyday ailments. Mallow leaf tea, for example, is an old home recipe for treating coughs, and gargling with a strong infusion of mallow leaves helps with inflammation in the mouth and throat area. As early as the 12th century, Hildegard von Bingen recommended mallow for headaches, drowsiness, kidney problems and bruising. In addition, the flowers and leaves of hibiscus, which belongs to the mallow family, Malvaceae, have been used time and again in folk medicine to make a tea against colds and inflammation of the upper respiratory tract.

Extracts from the herbs mentioned - mallow and hibiscus - are contained, along with other ingredients, in the Thermojetics® instant tea from Herbalife, which is used as a metabolism-supporting additional component to the actual diet product. The diet product from Herbalife consists of several and different dietary food compositions, each of which represents the only source of nutrients for a certain period of time for those determined to lose weight. The above-mentioned Thermojetics® instant tea drink contains an extract from mallow (Malvae silvestris) and hibiscus, as well as extracts from green

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_ Tea, fructose, black tea extract, cardamom, lemon peel and many Chinese herbs.

The object of the present invention is to provide an effective and cost-effective dietary agent for weight reduction.

It has now surprisingly been discovered that a tea infusion made from flowers and/or leaves of mallow plants has a strong dietary effect.

The present invention therefore relates to a diet drink which contains a tea infusion made from flowers and/or leaves of mallow plants (Malvaceae) as the sole dietary ingredient. According to the present invention, a tea infusion made from flowers and/or leaves of mallow (Malvae silvestris) and/or hibiscus (Hibiscus saptarifa, an annual plant from the mallow family) is preferred, with wild mallow (Malvae silvestris LINNE) being particularly preferred. In the context of the present invention report, both pre-portioned teas (tea bags) such as the hibiscus flower tea Fixmalve® from Teekanne or "Malve" from Meßmer as well as loose teas such as mallow flowers available in pharmacies can be used.

The tea infusion is made by steeping the flowers and/or leaves of the mallow family for at least three minutes, preferably five to ten minutes. The water used for the tea infusion should have a temperature of over 70 ^° C, boiling water is particularly preferred.

For the tea infusion, at least 10 g, better still 15 - 25 g, especially 20 - 22 g, of flowers and/or leaves of the mallow family are used per litre of tea water (2 - 4 g per cup). For pre-portioned teas (approx. 2 g of tea per bag), this corresponds to 8 to 10 bags per litre of tea water.

The inventive diet drink can also contain common additives that are ineffective from a dietary point of view and serve to improve the taste, such as sweeteners

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(especially sugar substitutes) and flavourings as well as health-promoting substances such as minerals, vitamins, etc.

It was found that test subjects who drank a cup (at least 150 ml) of the diet drink according to the invention before each main meal (i.e. three times a day) achieved a significant reduction in weight while maintaining the same food intake. The amount drunk at any one time should not be less than one cup (150 ml), but consuming a larger amount of tea is not critical. The dietary effect of the tea is independent of the temperature and freshness of the drink, i.e. the tea can be drunk cold or hot, freshly prepared or from stocks.

A method for weight reduction (dietary prescription) is thus provided, in which the diet drink according to the invention or the tea extract from flowers and/or leaves of mallow plants should be drunk before each main meal. No further dietary measures are required in this method. A combination of the method described here with such further dietary measures is permitted, however. Flowers and/or leaves of mallow plants, in particular mallow and hibiscus flowers, can thus be used to produce a diet tea.

The invention is explained in more detail using the following example.

Example

7 test subjects (2 male + 5 female) drank a cup of mallow tea before the three main meals. This was prepared before the meal by steeping 2 to 4 g of mallow flowers in 150 ml of water for 5 to 10 minutes. The amount of other food consumed by the test subjects remained constant compared to the period before the test.

The following weight reductions in the test subjects were observed:

Test person Test duration Weight loss (Age [years]) Female (42) 4 weeks 6.5kg Female (69) 4 weeks 5.5kg Female (42) 4 weeks 5.0kg Female (15) 1.5 weeks 2.0kg Female (13) 1 week 2.0kg Male (42) 4 weeks 4.8kg Male (42) 3 weeks 3.4kg

Claims (4)

1. Diet drink containing as the sole dietetic ingredient a tea infusion from flowers and/or leaves of mallow plants (Malvaceae). 2. Diet drink according to claim 1, characterized in that the dietetically active ingredient is a tea infusion of mallow flowers and/or hibiscus flowers. 3. Diet drink according to claim 2, characterized in that the tea infusion is obtainable by allowing the mallow and/or hibiscus flowers to steep for at least five minutes. 4. Diet drink according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that the tea infusion is obtainable using at least 10 g of mallow and/or hibiscus flowers per liter of tea water.