Green tea extract improves gut health, lowers blood sugar level: Study
Benefits of green tea extract: A recent study on people with a cluster of heart disease risk factors found that consuming green tea extract for four weeks can lower blood sugar levels and improve gut health by reducing inflammation and "leaky gut."
The study's findings were published in the journal "Current Developments in Nutrition." This study, according to researchers, is the first to examine whether the anti-inflammatory properties of green tea may have a preventive role against the health risks associated with metabolic syndrome, a condition that affects about one-third of Americans.
According to Richard Bruno, senior study author and professor of human nutrition at The Ohio State University, "There is much evidence that greater consumption of green tea is associated with good levels of cholesterol, glucose and triglycerides, but no studies have linked its benefits in the gut to those health factors."
The clinical trial, which involved 40 people, was a follow-up to a 2019 study that revealed improved gut health was connected with lower obesity and fewer health risks in mice that received green tea supplements.
Surprisingly, the new study found that green tea extract also reduced gut inflammation and permeability in healthy individuals, as well as blood sugar, or glucose.
It suggests that lowering blood glucose is related to reducing leaky gut and gut inflammation, regardless of health status, Bruno said. "What this tells us is that within one month we're able to lower blood glucose in both people with metabolic syndrome and healthy people, and the lowering of blood glucose appears to be related to decreasing leaky gut and decreasing gut inflammation - regardless of health status."
At least three of the five risk factors for heart disease, diabetes, and other health issues—excess belly fat, high blood pressure, low HDL (good) cholesterol, high levels of fasting blood glucose, and triglycerides, a form of blood fat—are present in people with metabolic syndrome.
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According to Bruno, the problematic thing about these risk variables that make up metabolic syndrome is that they frequently just have minor changes and do not yet require drug management, although still posing a serious risk to health.
"Most physicians will initially recommend weight loss and exercise. Unfortunately, we know most persons can't comply with lifestyle modifications for various reasons," he said, adding "Our work is aiming to give people a new food-based tool to help manage their risk for metabolic syndrome or to reverse metabolic syndrome."
For 28 days, 40 participants—21 with metabolic syndrome and 19 healthy adults—consumed gummy confections containing green tea extract, which is high in catechins, an anti-inflammatory agent. Five cups of green tea made up the recommended daily intake. All participants in the randomised double-blind crossover trial took a placebo for a further 28 days, followed by a month without taking any supplements.
During the placebo and green tea extract confection phases of the study, participants were confirmed to have adhered to a diet low in polyphenols, which are naturally occurring antioxidants found in fruits, vegetables, teas, and spices. As a result, any results could be attributed to the effects of green tea alone.
As a result of consuming green tea extract, all participants' fasting blood glucose levels were much lower than they were after taking the placebo, according to the results. Research that revealed a decrease in pro-inflammatory proteins in faecal samples was used to establish that the green tea treatment reduced intestinal inflammation in all volunteers. Researchers also discovered that green tea significantly reduced participants' small intestine permeability using a method to measure sugar ratios in urine samples.
A leaky gut, also known as gut permeability, allows intestinal bacteria and related harmful chemicals to enter the bloodstream, causing chronic low-grade inflammation.
"That absorption of gut-derived products is thought to be an initiating factor for obesity and insulin resistance, which are central to all cardiometabolic disorders," Bruno said, adding "If we can improve gut integrity and reduce leaky gut, the thought is we'll be able to not only alleviate low-grade inflammation that initiates cardiometabolic disorders but potentially reverse them."
"We did not attempt to cure metabolic syndrome with a one-month study," he stated. "But based on what we know about the causal factors behind metabolic syndrome, there is potential for green tea to be acting at least in part at the gut level to alleviate the risk for either developing it or reversing it if you already have metabolic syndrome."
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