Green tea may protect against fatty liver, new study says

Staff writers

March 16, 2005

In one of the latest reports touting the health benefits of green tea, South Carolina researchers say a component of the beverage might protect against the condition known as fatty liver. The substance known as EGCG helped prevent dangerous fat accumulations in liver cells during lab tests. Fatty liver is usually not life-threatening, but it can lead to other, more serious, complications.

News summary

Doctors claim a component of green tea may protect people from developing hepatic steatosis ¬ the medical term for fatty liver ¬"a condition that experts point to as one of the most significant reasons for liver transplantation.

Hepatic steatosis is a condition in which fat accumulates in the cells that make up the liver.

Fatty Livers Discarded in Transplants In this study, doctors only looked at hepatic steatosis, the more benign condition.

While benign, fatty livers often aren't used in liver transplant procedures because they are more sensitive to injury caused by ischemia and reperfusion ¬"the processes whereby bloodflow is temporarily halted in the liver during transplantation (ischemia), then later re-introduced to the organ (reperfusion).

Hepatic steatosis is also associated with an increased risk of disease and death, resulting in fewer usable donors for transplantation.

"Liver steatosis is now a primary factor in determining the usability of potential organs," wrote lead study author Kenneth Chavin, MD, PhD, in the division of Transplant Surgery and department of Microbiology and Immunology at the Medical University of South Carolina.

"The increasing use of steatotic livers for transplantation induces higher graft non-function rates, increased retransplantation rates, and increased recipient mortality," said Chavin, in an e-mail interview with Priority Healthcare.

A recent study that suggested rinsing fatty livers with a solution containing EGCG protected the organs from failing prompted Chavin and his colleagues to initiate their own trial.

Since green tea flavonoids have shown in other studies to lower body weight, the scientists speculated that EGCG might be one flavonoid that inhibits the development of fatty liver, Chavin explained.

Chavin and his team administered EGCG either orally or by injection, and then performed surgery to induce ischemia/reperfusion injury in the rodent's livers.

A separate group of mice was not given EGCG to compare the differences.

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This article posted April 19, 2005.