All about “slimming” teas

These herbal teas, marked for their “slimming” properties, contain laxatives or diuretics or a combination of both. A laxative is defined as any medicine that either stimulates bowel movements or softens the stool for emptying while a diuretic is used to rid that body of excess water through an increased rate of urination.

While laxatives and diuretics are made by drug companies are sold by prescription only, potent herbal laxatives and diuretics, in the form of slimming teas and weight loss pills, are sold in health stores.

Common herbs used in these imported preparations are the laxatives senna, cascara, buckthron or rhubarb root and the diuretics uva ursi, mallow or licorice root. But nobody really knows the ingredients of the popular Chinese herbal slimming tea sold in the country.