November 13, 2007
Citrus juice, vitamin C give staying power to green tea antioxidants
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - |
A study found that citrus juices enable more of green tea's unique antioxidants to remain after simulated digestion, making the pairing even healthier than previously thought.
The study compared the effect of various beverage additives on catechins, naturally occurring antioxidants found in tea. Results suggest that complementing green tea with either citrus juices or vitamin C likely increases the amount of catechins available for the body to absorb.
"Although these results are preliminary, I think it's encouraging that a big part of the puzzle comes down to simple chemistry," said Mario Ferruzzi, assistant professor of food science at Purdue University and the study's lead author.
Catechins (pronounced KA'-teh-kins), display health-promoting qualities and may be responsible for some of green tea's reported health benefits, like reduced risk of cancer, heart attack and stroke. The problem, Ferruzzi said, is that catechins are relatively unstable in non-acidic environments, such as the intestines, and less than 20 percent of the total remains after digestion.
"Off the bat you are eliminating a large majority of the catechins from plain green tea," Ferruzzi said. "We have to address this fact if we want to improve bodily absorption."
Ferruzzi tested juices, creamers and other additives that are either commonly added to fresh-brewed tea or used to make ready-to-drink tea products by putting them through a model simulating gastric and small-intestinal digestion. Citrus juice increased recovered catechin levels by more than five times, the study found. Ascorbic acid, or vitamin C, used to increase shelf life in ready-to-drink products, increased recovered levels of the two most abundant catechins by sixfold and 13-fold, respectively.
The study, published this month in Molecular Nutrition and Food Research, also found that soy, dairy and rice milk appeared to have moderate stabilizing effects. But Ferruzzi said the result is misleading; a chemical interaction between milk proteins and tea catechins apparently helps shelter the complex from degradation, a force likely overcome by enzymes within a healthy human digestive system.
Lemons and tea go even better together than their popularity might suggest. Lemon juice caused 80 percent of tea's catechins to remain, the study found. Following lemon, in terms of stabilizing power, were orange, lime and grapefruit juices. Ferruzzi said both vitamin C and citrus juices must interact with catechins to prevent their degradation in the intestines, although data made it clear that citrus juices have stabilizing effects beyond what would be predicted solely based on their vitamin C content.
"If you want more out of your green tea, add some citrus juice to your cup after brewing or pick a ready-to-drink product formulated with ascorbic acid," Ferruzzi said.
Ready-to-drink green tea products should optimally contain 100-200 mg of catechins, but oftentimes do not have sufficient levels of tea extract since some people do not like green tea's flavor, Ferruzzi said.
Although this study only examined green tea, Ferruzzi said he suspects that some of the results also could apply to black tea, which is produced by fermenting green tea. Many prefer black tea's flavor, although it contains lower total levels of catechins.
Studies have shown catechins from the green tea plant, Camellia sinensis, are able to detoxify toxic chemicals, inhibit cancer cell activity and stimulate production of immune-strengthening enzymes. Finding methods to improve uptake of these catechins may, therefore, be important in improving health, part of the study's goal, Ferruzzi said.
The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health.
Ferruzzi currently is conducting an in vivo study, or study on a live organism, to quantify the ability of juices and vitamin C to increase levels of catechins in the intestines and bloodstream of animals and, by extension, in humans. He collaborates with the NIH-funded Purdue Botanicals Research Center on this project.
"This next study is designed to get us past the limitations imposed by our digestive model, which is really just a simple screening process that relies on preset physiology parameters," he said. "Human digestion is a lot more complicated."
To see if juices and vitamin C actually increase catechin absorption, researchers will have to find out if increased levels of intestinal catechins translate to higher levels of absorbed catechins in live animals and humans. They also will need to better document effects upon catechin metabolism in order to prove, for instance, that increased levels of absorbed catechins are not leveled off by metabolic factors, Ferruzzi said.
"This study tells us a lot of interesting things, but it raises many questions that have yet to be answered," he said.
Writer: Douglas M. Main, (765) 496-2050, dmain@purdue.edu
Source: Mario Ferruzzi, (765) 494-0625, mferruzz@purdue.edu
Ag Communications: (765) 494-2722;
Beth Forbes, forbes@purdue.edu
Agriculture News Page
PHOTO CAPTION:
A little juice in your hot tea may increase the amount of tea-derived antioxidants that your body is able to absorb, said Purdue associate professor of food science Mario Ferruzzi. His study found lemon juice had the most profound impact, followed by orange, lime and grapefruit juices. (Purdue Agricultural Communication photo/Tom Campbell)
A publication-quality photo is available at https://www.purdue.edu/uns/images/+2007/ferruzzi-tea.jpg
Common Tea Formulations Modulate In Vitro Digestive Recovery of Green Tea Catechins
Rodney J. Green, Angus S. Murphy, Burkhard Schulz,
Bruce A. Watkins and Mario G. Ferruzzi
Epidemiological evidence suggests a role for tea catechins in reduction of chronic disease risk. However, stability of catechins under digestive conditions is poorly understood. The objective of this study was to characterize the effect of common food additives on digestive recovery of tea catechins. Green tea water extracts were formulated in beverages providing 4.5, 18, 23, and 3.5 mg per 100 mL epicatechin (EC), epigallocatechin (EGC), epigallocatechin-gallate (EGCG), and epicatechin-gallate (ECG), respectively. Common commercial beverage additives; citric acid (CA), BHT, EDTA, ascorbic acid (AA), milk (bovine, soy, and rice), and citrus juice (orange, grapefruit, lemon, and lime) were formulated into finished tea beverages at incremental dosages. Samples were then subjected to in vitro digestion simulating gastric and small intestinal conditions with pre- and post-digestion catechin profiles assessed by HPLC. Catechin stability in green tea was poor with less than 20% total catechins remaining post-digestion. EGC and EGCG were most sensitive with less than10% recovery. Teas formulated with 50% bovine, soy, and rice milk increased total catechin recovery significantly to 52, 55, and 69% respectively. Including 30 mg AA in 250 mL of tea beverage significantly increased catechin recovery of EGC, EGCG, EC, and ECG to 74, 54, 82, and 45% respectively. Juice preparation resulted in the highest recovery of any formulation for EGC (81–98%), EGCG (56–76%), EC (86–95%), and ECG (30–55%). These data provide evidence that tea consumption practices and formulation factors likely impact catechin digestive recovery and may result in diverse physiological profiles.
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