Hypolipidemic Property of a New Fermented Tea Made with Third Crop Green Tea (Camellia sinensis) Leaves and Unripe Satsuma Mandarin (Citrus unshiu) Fruits

Abstract

We manufactured a new fermented tea by tea-rolling processing of third crop green tea (Camellia sinensis) leaves and unripe satsuma mandarin (Citrus unshiu) fruits, and investigated the effects of feeding the tea extract on serum and liver lipid concentrations in rats. The tea extract contained narirutin and hesperidin from unripe satsuma mandarin fruits, catechins from green tea leaves, and black tea polyphenols produced by oxidation of catechins. The fermented tea extract inhibited pancreatic lipase activity in vitro. When rats were fed diets supplemented with the freeze-dried tea extract (0.50% or 0.75%) for 4 weeks, hepatic triglyceride and cholesterol concentrations were reduced in a dose-dependent manner, and the reductions were significant in rats fed diet composed of 0.75% tea extract compared to those fed the control diet. These results suggest that the tea produced by mixing third crop green tea leaves and unripe satsuma mandarin fruits has a hypolipidemic property.