The study demonstrates that the tea-based formula improves lipid metabolism, protects the intestinal barrier, and reshapes gut microbiota, offering a natural alternative to conventional anti-obesity drugs.
Obesity arises when energy intake consistently exceeds expenditure, leading to abnormal fat accumulation and related complications. Current treatments—including drugs, surgery, and strict dieting—can be effective but often carry risks such as vitamin deficiencies, muscle injury, and liver damage. At the same time, evidence has grown for the health benefits of teas, particularly Pu-erh tea, which contains bioactive compounds like theabrownin. Pu-erh tea has been reported to lower blood lipids, regulate gut microbiota, and reduce fat storage. Catechins are well studied for their anti-obesity and metabolic benefits, while theanine, an amino acid unique to tea, has shown potential in reducing fat accumulation and improving intestinal flora. Yet little was known about the combined effects of these three components. Based on these gaps, researchers sought to explore whether a synergistic formula could provide a safer, natural strategy for obesity prevention.
A study (DOI: 10.48130/bpr-0025-0011) published in Beverage Plant Research on 20 May 2025 by Sheng Zhang & Ailing Liu’s team, Hunan Agricultural University, underscores the potential of a Pu-erh tea–based compound beverage as a safe, natural strategy to combat obesity through metabolic and gut health regulation..
In this study, researchers investigated the effects of a Pu-erh tea compound solid beverage (PTB) on obesity by administering it to C57BL/6J mice fed an HFD. The experimental design examined a wide range of physiological and biochemical indicators, including body weight, organ indices, lipid profiles, inflammatory cytokines, antioxidant capacity, liver and adipose tissue histology, colon barrier integrity, and gut microbiota composition. Results showed that PTB significantly suppressed body weight gain, reduced food and energy intake efficiency, and lowered Lee’s index compared with untreated obese mice, with the high-dose group (PTBH) showing the strongest effect. PTB also normalized organ coefficients by reducing liver enlargement and improving the relative weights of the heart, spleen, and kidneys. Biochemically, PTB alleviated dyslipidemia by lowering serum triglycerides, total cholesterol, and LDL-C while raising HDL-C. Markers of liver injury (ALT, AST) were reduced, along with inflammatory mediators IL-6 and TNF-α, while antioxidant enzyme activities (SOD, GSH, CAT) increased and lipid peroxidation (MDA) decreased, demonstrating improved oxidative stress balance. Histological analysis revealed that PTB reduced lipid droplet accumulation and structural damage in the liver, decreased white fat mass, promoted smaller, better-arranged adipocytes, and increased brown fat weight. In the colon, PTB enhanced expression of tight-junction proteins (ZO-1, Occludin, Claudin-1), restored goblet cell numbers, and alleviated edema and inflammation, indicating protection of the intestinal barrier. Finally, 16S rRNA sequencing showed that PTB increased microbial diversity, decreased the Firmicutes-to-Bacteroidetes ratio, suppressed obesity-associated genera (Blautia, Helicobacter), and enriched beneficial taxa such as Akkermansia and Bacteroides. Correlation analysis confirmed that improvements in obesity-related parameters were associated with these microbial shifts. Together, the findings indicate that PTB combats HFD-induced obesity through multifaceted regulation of lipid metabolism, inflammation, oxidative stress, gut barrier integrity, and microbiota composition.
The findings suggest that a naturally derived Pu-erh tea solid beverage could provide a functional food solution for weight management. Unlike pharmaceutical treatments, which may cause severe side effects, PTB appears to act through multiple mechanisms—improving lipid metabolism, protecting the liver, enhancing antioxidant capacity, and restoring gut microbial balance. Such multifunctional activity highlights the promise of tea-based compounds a
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References
DOI
10.48130/bpr-0025-0011
Original Source URL
https://doi.org/10.48130/bpr-0025-0011
Funding information
This work was supported in part by the National Key R&D Project (2022YFE0111200), the Key R&D Project of Hunan Province (2021NK1020-3) and the Key R&D Project of Yunnan Province (202202AE090030).
About Beverage Plant Research
Beverage Plant Research (e-ISSN 2769-2108) is the official journal of Tea Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and China Tea Science Society. Beverage Plant Research is an open-access, online-only journal published by Maximum Academic Press. Beverage Plant Research publishes original research, methods, reviews, editorials, and perspectives that advance the biology, chemistry, processing, and health functions of tea and other important beverage plants.