Green tea extract improves intestinal health by reducing inflammation and permeability in the small intestine in both healthy people and people at risk for cardiometabolic disease, according to a study published in Current Developments in Nutrition and on the Healio portal.
“There is a lot of evidence that increased consumption of green tea is associated with good cholesterol, glucose, and triglyceride levels, but no study has linked its gut benefits to these health factors,” says the study’s senior author.
To determine whether the anti-inflammatory properties of catechin-rich green tea extract could reduce gut permeability and inflammation in people with metabolic syndrome, the authors conducted a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over study. They enrolled 40 participants in this study — 21 adults with the metabolic syndrome and 19 healthy adults — who received placebo or green tea extract marmalade (890 mg/d of catechins) for two courses of 4 weeks each, with a 1-month break between courses. According to the press release, the daily dose of marmalade was equivalent to five cups of green tea.
During the study, participants followed a diet low in polyphenols and had stool samples taken at week 4 to determine inflammatory proteins by ELISA. Researchers also collected 24-hour urine samples to test for non-digestible sugars.
According to the results, urinary levels of lactulose and mannitol were lower with green tea extract treatment compared to placebo (P = 0.043), both in patients with the metabolic syndrome and in healthy participants. Similar patterns were found when fecal myeloperoxidase and calprotectin levels were examined (P = 0.03-0.05).
“We did not try to cure the metabolic syndrome with a 1-month course of treatment,” said the study’s senior author. “But based on what we know about the causal factors of metabolic syndrome, green tea could potentially act, at least in part, at the gut level to reduce the risk of developing it or reverse it if a patient already has metabolic syndrome.”
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