Effects of Western, Vegetarian, and Japanese dietary fat model diets with or without green tea extract on the plasma lipids and glucose, and liver lipids in mice. A long-term feeding experiment.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The purpose of this study was to investigate the long-term effects of three model diets containing different fats, with or without a small amount of green tea extract (GTE), on plasma lipids and glucose, and liver lipids in mice.

METHODS: Male mice (2 months old) fed 10% fat diets with Western (W), Vegetarian (V), and Japanese (J) fat compositions with or without 0.03% GTE for 7 months.

RESULTS: The concentrations of plasma and liver total cholesterol in animals fed the W diet were not significantly different from those fed the J diet. Plasma triacylglycerol (TG) concentrations were significantly different from one another in the following order: V > J > W diet groups. GTE supplementation significantly reduced plasma and liver TG content only in V diet group. Plasma glucose (Glu) concentrations were in the following order: W > V > J diet groups, and the GTE supplementation reduced the concentration of Glu in each diet group. The ratios of plasma n-6 to n-3 fatty acids were in the following order: V > W > J diet groups, regardless of GTE supplementation.

CONCLUSION: These findings show the possibility that Japanese eating habits combined with drinking green tea might be a factor in preventing the onset of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus.