Phytother Res. 2002 Mar; 16 Suppl 1(): S91-2.

Vitamin C is one of the lipolytic substances in green tea.

Hasegawa N, Niimi N, Odani F.

Department of Food and Nutrition, Nagoya Bunri College, 2-1 Sasazuka-cho, Nishi-ku, Nagoya 451-0077, Japan. hsgwn@nagoya-bunri.ac.jp

We have studied the influence of vitamin C contained in green tea on the lipolysis of well-differentiated 3T3-L1 cells. When mature adipocytes were exposed to vitamin C the triglyceride concentration was decreased (p < 0.05) and the activity of glycerophosphate dehydrogenase, a marker of adipose conversion, was significantly inhibited (p < 0.01). These data suggest that green tea may have a lipolytic activity due to the mechanism by which the vitamin C contained in it inhibits triglyceride accumulation.Copyright 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.