Green tea catechins and cardiovascular disease risk factors: Should a health claim be made by the United States Food and Drug Administration?

Abstract

Green tea ( Camellia sinensis ) is an ancient beverage stemming from China, more recently gaining interest in Western societies due to its antioxidant capacity. Cardiovascular disease (CVD), a disease of the heart and blood vessels, is a result of increased lipid concentrations and blood pressure, responsible for numerous deaths worldwide. Green tea is highly enriched in catechins, which may be responsible for its proposed CVD prevention mechanism. The objective of this paper was to examine the scientific evidence pertaining to green tea and CVD risk and evaluate whether enough credible scientific evidence exists to support a health claim by the United States Food and Drug Administration (US FDA). Sixteen clinical studies have examined the effects of green tea on CVD risk factors however, following a critical evaluation of these studies, a health claim cannot be recommended due to the safety and metabolites of green tea, as well due to lack of high quality and properly designed studies. • Clinical research pertaining to CVD and green tea is examined and critiqued. • A more structured clinical trial scoring system is developed. • Poor study design results in mixed reports on green tea and CVD surrogate markers. • A health claim within the US FDA should not be granted. • A health claim cannot be recommended due to the safety and metabolites of green tea.