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ARS Home » Plains Area » Grand Forks, North Dakota » Grand Forks Human Nutrition Research Center » Healthy Body Weight Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #237413
Title: Green Tea and Bone Metabolism

Author
item SHEN, CHWANLI - TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY
item YEH, JAMES - WINTHROP-UNIVERSITY
item Cao, Jay
item WANG, JIA-SHENG - UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA

Submitted to: Nutrition Research
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/2/2009
Publication Date: 7/29/2009
Citation: Shen, C., Yeh, J.K., Cao, J.J., Wang, J. 2009. Green Tea and Bone Metabolism. Nutrition Research. 29(7):437-56.

Interpretive Summary: Osteoporosis is a bone disease characterized by low bone mass and bone tissue micro-architectural deterioration, resulting in increased bone fragility and a greater susceptibility to fractures. As the population ages, osteoporosis has become a serious health threat to many countries. The economic costs due to bone fractures have been increased tremendously in the past decade and such a trend will continue in the foreseeable future. Studies have demonstrated that lifestyle characteristics such as physical activity, smoking, and nutritional factors are associated with bone mineral density. Among the nutritional factors, tea drinking was reported to have beneficial action in osteoporosis, in terms of maintaining higher bone mineral density and reducing fracture risk. These beneficial effects of tea drinking, especially green tea, may be due, in part, to decreased oxidative stress, increased activity of antioxidant enzymes, and decreased production of proinflammatory mediators. Here, we discuss the beneficial effects of green tea on bone health from following aspects: (i) prevalence and etiology of osteoporosis, (ii) role of antioxidants in osteoporosis, (iii) green tea composition and bioavailabilty, (iv) effects of green tea along with its bioactive components on osteogenesis (osteoblastogenesis and eoclastogenesis) based on epidemiological human, in vivo animal, as well as in vitro cell culture studies, and (v) possible mechanisms related to osteo-protective effects of green tea bioactive compounds, and (vi) future research directions on green tea and bone health, from animal models to human clinical trials.

Technical Abstract: Osteoporosis is a major health problem in elderly men and women. Epidemiological evidence has shown association between tea consumption and age-related bone loss in elderly men and women. The aim of this review is to provide a systemic review of green tea and bone health to cover the following topics: (i) prevenalnce and etiology of osteoporosis, (ii) role of antioxidant in osteoporosis, (iii) green tea composition and bio-availability, (iv) effects of green tea along with active components on osteogenesis (osteoblastogensis and osteoclastogenesis) based on human epidemiological, in vivo animal, as well as in vitro cellular studies, and (v) possible mechanisms related to osteo-protective effects of green tea bioactive componds, and (vi) future directions of green tea and bone health, from animal to human translational studies. Ingestion of grean tea and /or green tea bioactive compounds may be benefical in mitigating bone loss of elderly men and women and decreasing their risk of osteoporotic fractures.