Abstract
To study the effects of the direct intake of marketed green tea on growing rats, rats were divided into three groups according to the percentage of green tea powder in the diet for 28 weeks : 0% (control) group, 1% group and 5% group.
No differences were found among the three groups in hematocrit, hemoglobin and serum iron. This result indicated that green tea powder did not adversely affect the utilization of iron. No adverse effects on serum enzymes or blood urea nitrogen were recognized. Except for the liver, the groups did not show any pathological or weight abnormalities in the organs.However, the control group had fatty liver and the 1% group mild fatty liver, whereas the 5% group was normal.
Storage fatty tissue weight in the abdominal cavity per 100 g of body weight was 5.5±0.4 g for the control group, 4.3±0.7 g for the 1% group and 3.8±0.4 g for the 5% group. Significant differences were seen between the control group and the 1% group (p<0.05) and the 5% group (p<0.01).
HDL-cholesterol as a percentage of serum total cholesterol was 39.6±5.3% for the control group, 57.6±6.9% for the 1% group and 67.0 ±6.6% for the 5% group. Significant differences were recognized between the control and the other two groups (p<0.01).
These results indicated that direct intake of green tea did not adversely affect rats and actually improved the conditions of the liver and serum lipid.
