Taking a green tea supplement? Don’t do that

(Duncan Kerridge) #1

‘The food supplement that ruined my liver’ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/stories-45971416

Drinking green tea is fine, but the larger quantities found in the supplements can cause problems, especially while fasting.

(Bunny) #2

Looks more like a selenium and glutathione deficiency (that’s why this happened); can’t protect the liver from EGCG induced liver (hepatic) damage which was not induced by the green tea that you drink like Matcha green tea, this type of liver damage comes from taking highly concentrated supplements that are extracted from the leaves!

So yeah, If you drink too much alcohol within an extensive period of time it will ruin your liver too?

Reference:

Epigallocatechin-3-gallate enhances key enzymatic activities of hepatic thioredoxin and glutathione systems in selenium-optimal mice but activates hepatic Nrf2 responses in selenium-deficient mice:

Abstract

Selenium participates in the antioxidant defense mainly through a class of selenoproteins, including thioredoxin reductase. Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) is the most abundant and biologically active catechin in green tea. Depending upon the dose and biological systems, EGCG may function either as an antioxidant or as an inducer of antioxidant defense via its pro-oxidant action or other unidentified mechanisms.

By manipulating the selenium status, the present study investigated the interactions of EGCG with antioxidant defense systems including the thioredoxin system comprising of thioredoxin and thioredoxin reductase, the glutathione system comprising of glutathione and glutathione reductase coupled with glutaredoxin, and the Nrf2 system.

In selenium-optimal mice, EGCG increased hepatic activities of thioredoxin reductase, glutathione reductase and glutaredoxin. These effects of EGCG appeared to be not due to overt pro-oxidant action because melatonin, a powerful antioxidant, did not influence the increase.

However, in selenium-deficient mice, with low basal levels of thioredoxin reductase 1, the same dose of EGCG did not elevate the above-mentioned enzymes; intriguingly EGCG in turn activated hepatic Nrf2 response, leading to increased heme oxygenase 1 and NAD§H:quinone oxidoreductase 1 protein levels and thioredoxin activity. Overall, the present work reveals that EGCG is a robust inducer of the Nrf2 system only in selenium-deficient conditions.

Under normal physiological conditions, in selenium-optimal mice, thioredoxin and glutathione systems serve as the first line defense systems against the stress induced by high doses of EGCG, sparing the activation of the Nrf2 system. …More

Driving me NUTS! - Brazil Nuts and Selenium
New study says you will get cancer with one slice of bacon
Nausea and high glucose reading
Is there a biochemist in the house?
(John) #3

I like to drink green tea, so I have no need to consume it in pill form. A nice warm cup of it in liquid form is ideal.

#4

Been taking gte for years. No plans to stop now. It chelates minerals. I take it to try and keep my ferritin levels from getting too high.

#5

I just watched this - shocking huh?

Another interesting point made was about taking anti-oxidants when exercising. A contributor to the show talked about a study done comparing two groups of men exercising with anti-oxidants (I believe they used C and E) and with a placebo. The result was pretty shocking - the group taking the anti-oxidants actually negated the benefits of the exercise. Another contributor said that many athletic trainers are removing anti-oxidants from their training regimes.

(KetoQ) #6

Duncan –

Good points, and if I could expand on your comments.

I prefer to drink my tea as well, as I recall reading an article that you may also lose some of phytonutrients and other benefits from the actual processing into a supplement. For example, what actually gets extracted? Is it done in a healthy manner? Is heating part of the process? Does heat/cooling damage some of the benefit/nutrients?

And as you point out, too much of a good thing can be bad. I love tumeric and understand it can be a great cancer fighter, and that you can enhance the “bioavailability” of tumeric up to 2,000% by taking with fat (as it is fat soluable) as well as with pepper. However, doing that everyday would eventually become toxic, which is why I only take that kind of dose every 7-10 days.

#7

Turmeric is high in oxalates for anyone who is sensitive

(Omar) #8

If it is not alcohol and it is not prescription drug then it must be green tea.

Then the report goes into saying that scientists do not know the mechanism of how green tea harm the liver.

I am not sure of the logic of the report

(Duncan Kerridge) #9

Yes I found the exercise thing very interesting. The whole anti-oxidant movement seems to based on some pretty shaky science or even just that one guy’s hypothesis. Sounds familiar doesn’t it?

I’ve been taking a multi-vit for the past year because, err, just in case? It was usually an hour or so before I exercise, so I’ll drop that after watching this and see if I notice anything.

#10

That is exactly what I was thinking when I was watching it too!

#11

Gains are a hormetic response to the inflammation caused by exertion. Load up on antioxidants and you suppress that inflammation, and in turn suppress your gains.