Is Green Tea Healthy for All or Are Some People At Higher Risk of Liver Damage?

Green tea is considered one of the healthier options when compared with coffee or regular tea. This is because it is richer in antioxidants and has lower caffeine content. While it may provide some protection against health issues like cancer, obesity, cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes, long-term use of high-dose green tea extract may lead to liver damage in a small section of the population.

Researchers from Rutgers, published in The Journal of Dietary Supplements, shed light on a strong lead – two genetic variants that predict some of the risks. Senior of the study and assistant professor of nutrition sciences at the Rutgers School of Health Professions Hamed Samavat said – “Learning to predict who will suffer liver damage is potentially important because there’s growing evidence that high-dose green tea extract may have significant health benefits for those who can safely take it.”

Researchers used the data from the Minnesota Green tea Trial, a large study of green tea’s effect on breast cancer and investigated whether people with some genetic variations were more likely to show signs of liver damage after ingesting 843 milligrams of predominant antioxidant in green tea every day for a year.

The antioxidant in question is a catechin called epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG). The research group was led by Laura Acosta, a graduate who was a doctoral student back then, who selected two genetic variations that control the synthesis of an enzyme that breaks EGCG down. They selected the Minnesota Green Tea Trial because it was a large, well-designed study of a unique population. The study included more than 1000 postmenopausal women and the data was collected every 3 months.

The participants with the high-risk UGT1A4 genotype saw the enzyme that indicates damage to the liver goes up by nearly 80 percent after nine months of consuming the green tea supplement. Those with the low-risk genotypes saw the enzyme go up by 30 percent.

While several genetic variations weren’t included in the research due to which there was no exact prediction of which groups can safely enjoy the high-dose green tea extract, this research was an important step forward into understanding who can enjoy the benefits of green tea and who cannot.

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