The Efficacy and Safety of Black Tea Extract on Weight or Body Fat Reduction in Overweight or Obese Subjects: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Study

Soo Jin Kim; Kyung Soo Kim; Myeong Soo Lee; Eung Nam An; Ji-Youn Kim; Tae Ho Lee; Namjoon Baek; Sangjin Lee

doi:10.21215/kjfp.2018.8.6.848

Korean J Fam Pract. 2018; 8(6): 848-854 https://doi.org/10.21215/kjfp.2018.8.6.848

The Efficacy and Safety of Black Tea Extract on Weight or Body Fat Reduction in Overweight or Obese Subjects: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Study

Soo Jin Kim¹, Kyung Soo Kim^1,*, Myeong Soo Lee², Eung Nam An³, Ji-Youn Kim⁴, Tae Ho Lee⁵, Namjoon Baek⁵, Sangjin Lee^5,6

¹Department of Family Medicine, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul; ²Korean Medicine Life Science, University of Science &
Technology, Daejeon; ³College of Sport Science, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon; ⁴Exercise Rehabilitation Convergence Institute, Gachon University, Incheon;
⁵Dong-A Pharm Research Institute, Pharmaceutical Product Research Laboratories, Yongin; ⁶School of Pharmacy, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, Korea

Kyung Soo Kim
Tel: +82-2-2258-2895, Fax: +82-2-2258-2896
E-mail: kskim@catholic.ac.kr
ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3501-1212

Received: August 25, 2017; Revised: September 19, 2017; Accepted: October 7, 2017; Published online: December 20, 2018.

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0) which permits unrestricted noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract: Background: Black tea extracts (BTE), which are rich in gallic acid, have been associated with the improvement of obesity in rats. However, whether black tea consumption is beneficial in human subjects is unknown. In this study, we aimed to evaluate whether BTE can reduce body fat mass in human subjects.
Methods: We investigated the effects of BTE intake in 50 pre-obese and obese Korean adults (23 kg/m2 Results: After 8 weeks of BTE consumption the mean BMI decreased by 0.05±0.32 kg/m2 in the BTE group compared with a decrease of 0.18±0.78 kg/m2 in the placebo group. There was a 0.10±0.79 kg difference in weight within the BTE group. Abdominal computed tomography scans revealed a liver Hounsfield unit decrease of 0.32±5.84 in the BTE group compared with a decrease of 3.03±3.65 in the placebo group. None of the differences were statistically significant (P>0.05).
Conclusion: BTE was not effective in reducing human body weight or body fat composition, when compared with the effects of placebo.; Keywords: Black Tea Extract; Obesity; Body Mass Index; Visceral Fat

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