Theanine is an amino acid (hint, when the ingredient starts with an L-, it’s an amino acid) that you find in tea. It’s known for its psychoactive properties (it can enter the brain). According to one study¹ twelve people went through four separate trials. They took:

• L-Theanine at the start of an experimental procedure
• L-Theanine midway through an experimental procedure
• a placebo
• nothing

The experiments were doubleblind. Ingestion of L-Theanine “resulted in a reduction in the heart rate and salivary immunoglobulin responses to an acute stress task relative to the placebo control condition.” It was concluded that L-Theanine ingestion resulted in lower stress levels.

What does this mean for L-Theanine and weight loss? Why do we care about stress levels if we’re trying to lose weight? The conclusion of some diet pill makers is that a pill loaded with stimulants such as green tea, caffeine, or synephrine will most certainly cause a metabolic reaction helpful in burning calories and losing weight, but could cause jitters and unwanted anxiety by the user. The inclusion of L-Theanine then is the hope that the jitter effects will be counteracted but the metabolic boost by the stimulants will still be effective.

There haven’t been any studies that I could find directly relating L-Theanine to weight loss, so I believe my assumption is correct in what the diet pill makers are trying to accomplish with this ingredient.

1. Kimura K, Ozeki M, Juneja L, Ohira H (2007). “L-Theanine reduces psychological and physiological stress responses”. Biol Psychol 74 (1): 39-45. [↩]

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