New research has found that consuming green tea extract for four weeks can lower blood sugar levels and improve gut health.
Ohio State University researchers have found that people with various heart disease risk factors who consume green tea extract could lower blood sugar levels and improve gut health by reducing inflammation and decreasing leaky gut.
Green tea extract has been hailed as an essential supplement; it is made from dried green tea leaves and contains the caffeine, antioxidants, and flavonoids found naturally in green tea. It has various health benefits, such as helping with weight loss.
Trialling the effects of green tea on metabolic syndrome
The team conducted a clinical trial of 40 individuals as a follow-up to a 2019 study which found lower obesity and fewer health risks in mice consuming green tea extract regularly. In the study, 21 people had metabolic syndrome, and 19 were healthy adults. The participants consumed green tea extract for 28 days, followed by a placebo for 28 days.
The study participants consumed a diet low in polyphenols – avoiding naturally occurring antioxidants in fruits and other foods – during the placebo and green tea extract phases. The reason was to guarantee that any results could be attributed to the green tea supplement.
Did green tea extract lower blood pressure?
The researchers found that green tea extract had a surprising effect on various bodily functions, such as lower blood sugar levels and improved gut inflammation and permeability in healthy people.
Lower blood sugar levels were found in all participants after consuming green tea extract compared to levels after taking the placebo. Furthermore, the researchers saw decreased gut inflammation in faecal samples in all participants. Using urine samples to assess sugar ratios, they also discovered that participants’ small intestine permeability – also known as leaky gut – decreased.
“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,” commented Richard Bruno, senior study author and Professor of Human Nutrition at The Ohio State University. “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 said. “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.”
The researchers are focusing on further analyses of microbial communities in the study participant’s guts and levels of bacteria-related toxins in their blood.
