Effects of 3-week consumption of green tea extracts on whole-body metabolism during cycling exercise in endurance-trained men

Abstract

The consumption of green tea has been generally associated with beneficial effects on human whole-body metabolism and recent investigations with animals indicate favorable effects of green tea extracts (GTE) on energy metabolism during exercise and aerobic exercise performance. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a three-week supplementation with GTE on human energy metabolism during submaximal cycling exercise. In a randomized, double-blind crossover setting, ten healthy endurance-trained men exercised for 2 hours at 50 % W(max) before and after three weeks of placebo or GTE supplementation (GTE containing about 160 mg x day(-1) total catechins, of which about 70 mg x day(-1) was epigallocatechin-3-gallate). The GTE supplementation did not influence indices of fat and energy metabolism (fatty acids, 3-beta-hydroxybutyrate, triacylglycerol, low-density-lipoprotein cholesterol, total cholesterol, lactate, glucose, oxygen uptake, respiratory exchange ratio, energy expenditure), inflammation processes (interleukin-6, C-reactive protein), and oxidative stress (thiobarbituric-acid reactive substances, oxidized low-density-lipoprotein cholesterol), but plasma creatine kinase concentration at rest and during exercise was significantly lower (p = 0.039) and high-density-lipoprotein cholesterol concentration at rest was significantly higher (p = 0.043) compared to placebo. In conclusion, these results suggest only slight effects on whole-body metabolism after supplementation with GTE.