Affiliations: [a] School of Life Sciences, La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC 3086, Australia | [b] Key State Laboratory for Pu-erh Tea Research, Yunnan Agricultural University, Yunnan, People's Republic of China. e-mail: simon.c@wholesalegroup.com.au
| [c] School of Psychological Sciences, La Trobe University, Bundoora, VIC 3086, Australia
Abstract: Most of the fat oxidation effects of green tea have been observed in a beverage form. This study explored the use of green tea as feed formation in obese mice to protect against diet-induced obesity. Forty-eight adult C57BL/6J mice were randomised to either a control diet with 36.1 % w/w sucrose or a standard diet, except for the replacement of 2 % w/w of the sucrose dietary component (36.1 % sucrose in control) with 2 % w/w cocoa (34.1 % sucrose), 2 % w/w coffee, or 2 % w/w powdered Japanese green tea. At 16th week, body composition, plasma glucose, organ samples and bone mineral density were obtained. In comparison to the control group, only the 2 % green tea group displayed lower body weight (p < 0.01), body fat, liver weight (p < 0.05), hepatic lipid status and higher lean mass. The coffee group displayed lower body fat (p < 0.05) and the cocoa group lower plasma glucose (p < 0.05), but this was not substantiated by other parameters. Results of study indicate the antiobesity potential of green tea when consumed as 2 % (w/w %) of the diet probably by lipolysis and decreased systemic inflammation resulting from consumption of a high-fat, high-sucrose diet in obesity-prone strain of mice.
Keywords: Green tea, Caffeine, Diet-induced obesity, EGCG, Catechins
