The purpose of this study is to assess the effect of green tea (Camellia sinensis L.) integrated into the diets of rats on the emergence of obesity and its nutritionally induced complications. 24 Wistar rats were divided into 4 groups. Groups 1 (control) and 2 (SGT) were subjected to a standard diet alone or supplemented with green tea. Group 3(HF) received a high-fat diet alone; however, Group 4 (HFGT) underwent the same diet supplemented with green tea. After a 16-week experiment, biochemical and oxidative analyses on plasma and tissue levels were performed, complemented by the enumeration of certain bacteria from the intestinal microbiota. The results revealed that the high-fat diet induced 19% and 156% increase in body weight and adipose tissue weight in rats, respectively. It also stimulated a significant increase in plasma blood glucose (53%) and triglycerides (27%). This diet affected the antioxidant status, inducing a decrease estimated at 48% in reducing power on the plasma level, at 38% of the hepatic level, and at 55% of the cardiac level. Thus, a reduction in thiol groups was observed at the renal (41%), cardiac (60%), and plasma (58%) levels. This diet promotes lipid accumulation in the liver, thus causing steatosis. Green tea supplementation restores all these metabolic imbalances. Indeed, the group of rats fed a high-fat diet supplemented with 2% tea showed a 16% and 48% reduction in their body weight and adipose tissue mass, respectively. Green tea restored blood sugar levels by 35% and triglycerides by 11%. It exerted an antioxidant effect by increasing the plasma reducing power by 37%, hepatic by 22%, and cardiac by 34%. The level of thiol groups in the heart and plasma has been restored, with an increase of 34% and 50%, respectively. This plant can inhibit the formation of lipid vacuoles induced by the high-fat diet. Also, the incorporation of green tea into the high-fat diet reduced the number of E.coli and Bacteroides spp. and increased the concentration of Lactobacillus spp. in the HFGT group compared to the SGT group. All these results indicated that green tea can be considered in new preventive nutritional approaches aimed at modulating biochemical and oxidative disorders and intestinal dysbiosis in the context of obesity.
Benaraba et al. (Thu,) studied this question.