Food Inhibits the Oral Bioavailability of the Major Green Tea Antioxidant Epigallocatechin Gallate in Humans

Antioxidants

Nenad Naumovski²  Barbara L. Blades³  Paul D. Roach³  Antonio Segura-Carretero¹ 

[1] id="af1-antioxidants-04-00373">1School of Public Health and Nutrition, University of Canberra, Canberra 2601, ACT, Austral;School of Public Health and Nutrition, University of Canberra, Canberra 2601, ACT, Australia;School of Environmental & Life Sciences, University of Newcastle, Ourimbah 2258, NSW, Australia; E-Mails:

关键词: EGCG;    systemic absorption;    green tea catechins;    functional foods;   

DOI  :  10.3390/antiox4020373

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

The bioavailability of the most abundant and most active green tea antioxidant, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) remains uncertain. Therefore, the systemic absorption of EGCG was tested in healthy fasted humans. It was administered as capsules with water or with a light breakfast, or when incorporated within a strawberry sorbet. The results for plasma EGCG clearly revealed that taking EGCG capsules without food was better; the AUC was 2.7 and 3.9 times higher than when EGCG capsules were taken with a light breakfast (p = 0.044) or with EGCG imbedded in the strawberry sorbet (p = 0.019), respectively. This pattern was also observed for C_max and C_av. Therefore, ingesting food at the same time as EGCG, whether it was imbedded or not in food, substantially inhibited the absorption of the catechin. As with some types of medications that are affected by food, it appears that EGCG should be taken without food in order to maximise its systemic absorption. Therefore, based on these findings, ingesting EGCG with water on an empty stomach is the most appropriate method for the oral delivery of EGCG in clinical trials where EGCG is to be investigated as a potential bioactive nutraceutical in humans.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.