Green Tea Supports Healthy Lipid Balance

A recently published meta-analysis reports that green tea supports healthy blood lipid balance. Green tea contains several antioxidant bioactive polyphenols including catechin, gallaogatechin, epicatechin, epigallocatechin, epicatechin gallate, and epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG).

Studies regarding the effect of green tea on serum lipid levels were evaluated for quality and outcomes. Fourteen randomized controlled studies were included in the meta-analysis, for a total of 1,136 subjects.

The results of the analysis showed that green tea consumption enhanced balanced lipid levels. Green tea consumption significantly enhanced balanced levels of total cholesterol by 7.20 mg/dL and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol by 2.19 mg/dL. Evaluation of the studies found that this effect on serum lipids was not influenced by the type of intervention, dose of green tea catechins, study duration, individual health status, or quality of the study. There was no significant change in high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol.

Therefore, the study authors concluded that analysis of eligible studies showed that the administration of green tea beverages or extracts resulted in significant enhancement of balanced serum total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol concentrations, but no effect on HDL cholesterol was observed.

Reference:

Zheng XX, Xu YL, Li SH, Liu XX, Hui R, Huang XH. Green tea intake lowers fasting serum total and LDL cholesterol in adults: a meta-analysis of 14 randomized controlled trials. Am J Clin Nutr. 2011 Jun 29. Published Online Ahead of Print.