A young girl developed hepatitis after drinking three cups of green tea a day. The 16-year-old girl went to the doctor for her symptoms of nausea, dizziness and an upset stomach. The doctor falsely diagnosed a UTI, and therefore prescribed antibiotics. After taking them, her symptoms worsened. She had to go to the hospital, where the doctors diagnosed him with hepatitis, an inflammation of the liver.
When she arrived at the hospital, she was suffering from jaundice, the doctors explain in their medical report, published in the journal BMJ Case Reports.
Hepatitis often develops because of a virus or when the liver is exposed to harmful substances such as alcohol.
But in the case of this girl, who assured that she did not consume either alcohol or drugs, it is a Chinese green tea that is supposed to make losing weight that caused his illness. She testified that she bought the tea online, which she drank about three cups of a day for a few months. Since the ingredients were written in Chinese, she didn’t know what it was made of.
After an investigation, the doctors found that an ingredient present in the tea, the tea tree (Camellia Sinensis), would have caused the hepatitis in the patient.
Herbal remedies, including tea and tea tree supplements, are available online, note the report’s authors.
Green tea has previously been linked to damage to the liver in the past. According to the researchers, there are many cases recorded in the medical diaries of patients who fall ill after ingesting certain tea extracts.
However, the authors assure that green tea is normally a safe drink and even good for health, mainly because it is rich in antioxidants. They add that it is rather the ingredients added to the tea that could make you sick and not the real tea leaves.
The report’s authors fear that our knowledge of herbal remedies is limited and that users often underestimate the extent of their use.
“I will never buy more tea online or weight loss pills. People should be more aware of what they are buying and their side effects, ”the young girl, who recovered after a brief hospital stay, told reporters.
Read also: Slimming: how to choose your green tea?
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