Dietary Tea Catechins Reduce Development of Obesity Accompanied with Gene Expression of Lipid-metabolizing Enzymes in Mice.

Obesity is a metabolic disorder due to less energy expenditure than its uptake and is a strong risk factor for non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM), hypertension and atherosclerosis. The present study examines the effects of long-term feeding of tea catechins on body weight, fat accumulation, and mRNA of genes involved in β-oxidation in obesity-prone C57BL/6J mice. Four months high fat diet (30% TG+13% sucrose) administration significantly increased body weight, epididymal fat accumulation and circulating leptin compared to the control diet mice (5% TG). High fat feeding-induced body weight gain and epididymal fat weight were reduced by 81% and 63%, respectively, in mice fed the catechin diet (30% TG+13% sucrose+0.5% tea catechins). Circulating leptin was reduced by 68%. Compared with the high fat diet group, catechin-feeding up-regulated medium-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase mRNA expression in the liver, suggesting tea catechins to possibly stimulate lipid metabolism in the liver. Long-term feeding of tea catechins is thus shown beneficial for suppressing high fat diet-induced body fat accumulation. The stimulation of lipid metabolism in the liver may possibly be a factor for the anti-obesity effects of tea catechins in mice.