Biological benefits of Chinese Black Tea

Many studies have shown various biological benefits of Chinese black tea. The antioxidant activities of Chinese black tea extract have been shown by in vitro assays (Duh et al., 2004; Jie et al., 2006; Gong et al., 2009). Wu et al. (2007) showed the antimutagenic activity of Chinese black tea using the Ames test. Moreover, some animal studies have revealed the antiatherosclerotic (Hou et al., 2009) and antiobesity (Cao et al., 2011; Kuo et al., 2005) effects of Chinese black tea. Previously we have also shown that Chinese black tea exerts an antihypercholesterolemic effect in rodents and humans (Fujita and Yamagami, 2008a, 2008b). Furthermore, many animal and human studies have also shown the beneficial effects of green tea, and that catechins, including epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), contribute to the physiological actions of green tea in- cluding its antiobesity effect (Koo and Noh. 2007).