Effects of Tea Consumption on Plasma Lipids and Lipoproteins in Apparently Healthy Individuals

ABSTRACT

Possible alterations in total plasma cholesterol; triglyceride; HDL-cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol concentrations were studied in forty healthy human subjects (twenty-two males and eighteen adult females) after twenty eight days of tea consumption. A commercial brand of tea preparation was drunk by each of the subjects and they were made to take two standard cups (4.0g) of tea infusion per day. The result showed a significant decrease in mean HDL-cholesterol and increase in LDL-cholesterol concentrations compared with the mean control values. The mean total cholesterol was statistically unchanged. When the subjects were grouped into males and females; the mean LDL-C concentration was significantly elevated in both male and female groups while the mean HDL-C and triglyceride levels only in female subjects when compared with the corresponding control group. The difference observed in the value of the mean total cholesterol was not statistically significant in individual male and female groups.Findings from this study suggest that tea consumption could affect the metabolism of atherogenic lipid fractions and may thus be important in the aetiology of coronary heart disease