Matcha Green Tea Alleviates Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in High-Fat Diet-Induced Obese Mice by Regulating Lipid Metabolism and Inflammatory Responses

Abstract

Lately, matcha green tea has gained popularity as a beverage and food additive. It has proved to be effective in preventing obesity and related metabolic syndromes. However, the underlying mechanisms of its control effects against non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) are complicated and remain elusive. In the present study, we performed an in vivo experiment using male C57BL/6 mice fed with a high-fat diet and simultaneously treated with matcha for six weeks. Serum biochemical parameters, histological changes, lipid accumulation, inflammatory cytokines, and relevant indicators were examined. Dietary supplementation of matcha effectively prevented excessive accumulation of visceral and hepatic lipid, elevated blood glucose, dyslipidemia, abnormal liver function, and steatosis hepatitis. RNA sequencing analyses of differentially expressed genes in liver samples indicated that matcha treatment decreased the activity of lipid droplet-associated proteins and increased the activity of cytochrome P450 enzymes, suggesting improved metabolic capacity and liver function. The current study provided evidence for new dietary strategies based on matcha supplementation to ameliorate lipotoxicity-induced obesity and NALFD.

Matcha green tea targets the gut–liver axis to alleviate obesity and metabolic disorders induced by a high-fat diet

“…Some studies have reported that matcha has hypolipidemic, hypoglycemic, and anti-obesity effects ( 11 , 12 ). Consistently, our previous study focused on liver function and found that matcha was effective in improving HFD-induced hepatitis and lipid metabolism disorders ( 13 ). However, the interactions between multiple organs and the clear mechanisms of matcha on HFD-induced obesity remained to be further explored.…”

“…The composition of experimental diets is shown in Supplementary Table S1 . The normal chow diet (10% energy from fat, #D12450B) and high-fat diet (45% energy from fat, #D12451) for mice were supplied by the Research Diets, Inc. Co., Ltd. (New Brunswick, NJ, USA) ( 13 ). The body weight and food intake of each group of mice were measured weekly.…”

Effects of Different Green Teas on Obesity and Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Induced by a High-Fat Diet in Mice

“…In a previous study, the visceral adipose mass of obese mice and lean littermates fed with diets containing 1 or 2% green tea extract was significantly lower than their respective controls fed with a green tea extractfree diet (25). In another study, an HFD significantly increased the weight of epididymal and perirenal adipose tissues, and the size of adipocytes in mice, while the dietary supplement Matcha prevented these unfavorable changes (26). Likewise, Selenium-Enriched Matcha (GT9) and Seven Star Matcha (GT10) in this study could reduce the accumulation of adipose and the hypertrophy of adipocytes.…”

A nanodrug system overexpressed circRNA_0001805 alleviates nonalcoholic fatty liver disease via miR-106a-5p/miR-320a and ABCA1/CPT1 axis

“…NAFLD is recognized as a multisystem pathological disease, and its clinical development is closely associated with metabolic syndromes, including hypertension, hyperlipidemia and diabetes mellitus [ 39 ]. Although early-stage NAFLD hardly causes immediate damage, accumulating evidence has shown that a severe form of NAFLD accompanied by hepatic and extrahepatic complications is highly related to elevated hepatic inflammatory responses [ 40 ]. On the other hand, the increased uptake of free fatty acids and triglycerides from circulation and their dysregulated hepatic accumulation play a central role in the progression of NAFLD to NASH [ 41 , 42 ].…”