Aims Green tea extract (GTE) can exert anti‐obesity and inflammatory effects. Our study determined whether the benefits of GTE are summative with exercise‐induced changes in anthropometric indices, and the levels of inflammatory cytokines, adiponectin and irisin in inactive overweight women. Methods Thirty overweight female participants were randomized to three groups: endurance training + placebo (ET+P); endurance training + GTE (ET +GTE); and Control (no exercise) + placebo (Control, N=10). The exercise intervention consisted of an eight‐week endurance‐training program of three sessions per week [aerobics, aerobic circuit training, and fast walking or jogging at a moderate intensity of 40‐59% of the heart rate reserve]. T he dose of GTE used was 500 mg/d in the form of a green tea capsule. Results Body weight, body mass index (BMI), waist to hip ratio (WHR), and body fat percentage (BFP) were decreased in both ET+P and ET+GTE interventions (P<0.001 for both interventions). The reduction of anthropometric values in the ET+GTE group was significantly higher than ET+P interventions (P<0.001). Both exercise interventions also significantly (P< 0.001) increased adiponectin [ET +GTE= 5.28 mg/ml (95% CI, 4.48 to 6.08) and ET+P= 3.34 mg/ml (95% CI, 2.76 to 3.92)] and decreased hs‐CRP [ET +GTE= ‐0.95 mg/l (95% CI, ‐1.15 to ‐0.75) and ET+P= ‐0.35 mg/l (95% CI, ‐0.46 to ‐0.24)]. Changes in adiponectin and hs‐CRP were greater (P< 0.05) in ET+GTE compared to ET+P. There were no significant differences in irisin, IL‐6, and TNF‐α between the three groups (P>0.05). Conclusions GTE improves exercise‐induced body composition by further decreasing exercise‐induced changes in weight, BMI, WHR, and BFP. The combination of GTE and exercise also produced greater changes in anti‐inflammatory (increases in adiponectin) and metabolic (decreases in hs‐CRP) markers than exercise alone.

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