May 17, 2006 – There is insufficient evidence to conclude that consuming green tea may reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. This is what the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) claims, which has just rejected a request to allow a claim about the positive effects of green tea on heart health.
This refusal has just been notified in a letter1 addressed to the company Ito En, a large Japanese producer and distributor of green tea which had submitted its request for authorization in June 2005. In support of their request, the directors of Ito En had identified some 105 studies or various articles on the benefits of green tea or green tea extract in preventing cardiovascular disorders.
The FDA has just announced that after analyzing all the scientific evidence submitted, it could not allow a health claim to the effect that “the consumption of green tea or green tea extract can have a significant protective effect. on the incidence of cardiovascular disorders ”.
In the letter motivating this decision, the FDA points out that although the results of some animal studies and in vitro tests show that green tea contains antioxidant substances.2 that could have a positive effect on the cardiovascular system, human trials have failed to demonstrate this effect. The FDA adds, however, that the American authorities did not rule out the possibility of reviewing this decision in the future, in the light of more convincing results.
Recall that the same FDA made a similar decision last summer regarding a request for a health claim concerning the protective effects of green tea against various types of cancer.3. The US regulatory authority had, again, reviewed all of the evidence. She concluded that the results of systematic trials in humans had so far given negative or contradictory results as to the protective effects of the phenols in green tea against various types of cancer.
The FDA is a public body in the United States which, among other things, evaluates health claims that can be placed on food products.
Pierre Lefrançois – PasseportSanté.net
According to Yahoo! News and Webmd.com.
1. Schneeman BO. Letter of Denial – Green Tea and Reduced Risk of Cardiovascular Disease, Office of Nutritional Products, Labeling, and Dietary Supplements (FDA), United States, 2006. [Consulté le 16 mai 2006]. www.cfsan.fda.gov
2. The antioxidant substances in question are catechins, phenolic compounds specific to tea.
3. FDA Issues Information for Consumers about Claims for Green Tea and Certain Cancers. FDA News, United States, 2005. [Consulté le 16 mai 2006]. www.fda.gov
