Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Paper
  • Published:

Anti-obesity action of oolong tea

Abstract

OBJECTIVE:Oolong tea is traditionally reported to have anti-obesity and hypolipidaemic effects. The present study was performed to clarify whether oolong tea prevented obesity induced in mice by the oral administration of a high-fat diet for 10 weeks.

DESIGN: High-fat diet-induced obese mice were treated with oolong tea for 10 weeks. The effects of various active fractions isolated from oolong tea on noradrenaline-induced lipolysis were examined with isolated fat cells and a cell-free system consisting of lipid droplets and hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL).

RESULTS: The mean food consumption was not significantly different between high-fat diet-treated mice and high-fat plus oolong tea diet-treated mice. Oolong tea prevented the obesity and fatty liver induced by a high-fat diet. A water extract of oolong tea enhanced noradrenaline-induced lipolysis, and the active substance was identified as caffeine. Caffeine enhanced noradrenaline-induced lipolysis in fat cells without a concomitant increase in HSL activity and also accelerated the hormone-induced lipolysis in a cell-free system consisting of lipid droplets and HSL, but not in the cell-free system with sonicated lipid droplets and HSL. Oolong tea extract inhibited pancreatic lipase activity.

CONCLUSION: It was demonstrated that the anti-obesity effects of oolong tea in high-fat diet-treated mice might be due partly to the enhancing effect of caffeine isolated from oolong tea on noradrenaline-induced lipolysis in adipose tissue, and to the inhibitory action of some other substance in oolong tea on pancreatic lipase activity. Caffeine was found to enhance lipolysis through acting on lipid droplets but not on HSL. The results suggest that oolong tea may be an effective crude drug for the treatment of obesity and fatty liver caused by a high-fat diet.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Similar content being viewed by others

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Han, LK., Takaku, T., Li, J. et al. Anti-obesity action of oolong tea. Int J Obes 23, 98–105 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0800766

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.ijo.0800766

Keywords

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links