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Theaflavins from tea are converted to more healthy compounds!

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Tea is the most consumed beverage in the world after water and is a rich source of antioxidants known as flavonoids.

Tea is made from the plant Camellia sinensis and depending on the harvesting procedures can be used to make green tea, black tea, white tea, and oolong tea.

Black tea, which is produced from the fermentation of green tea leaves, is rich in compounds known as theaflavins.

Theaflavins are well known to have anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties which is largely believed to be responsible for their health promoting properties.

One curious aspect of theaflavin is that it is actually considered to be poorly absorbed yet many health benefits of tea are reported.

However, new research published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry suggests that theaflavins are converted to different antioxidant compounds when we drink them.

It is this conversion process that is likely responsible for many of the health promoting properties of tea.

theaflavins

 

Here are the study details

– Male volunteers consumed 1 gram of theaflavins in a powder capsule form

– Samples of urine and feces were collected and analyzed for metabolism of theaflavins.

 

Here is the content of the thealfavin extract

 

theaflavin 5 17.4%
theaflavin-3-O-gallate 6 30.4%
theaflavin-3′-O-gallate 7 17%
theaflavin-3,3′-O-digallate 8 32.8%
(−)-epicatechin 1 0.01%
(+)-gallocatechin-3-O-gallate 2 0.08%
(−)-epigallocatechin-3-O-gallate 3 0.1%
(−)-epicatechin-3-O-gallate 4 0.13%
procyanidin dimer B2-3′-O-gallate 9 2.26%

 

Here are some more articles about tea and health promotion.

Here are the main results:

– Theaflavin was converted to gallic acid, pyrogallol and phenylpropionic acid

 

Here are some comments by the authors of the study:

The data obtained in the present study suggest that beneficial effects associated with theaflavins arising from consumption of black tea would most likely be derived from their circulating metabolites/catabolites which are mainly of microbial origin.

 

 

 

theaflavins

 

Takeaway message:

The evidence from this recent paper underscores the importance of understanding how phytochemicals can be converted to different compounds with health benefits.  This is especially important given the fact that many clinical trials will often focus on blood levels of a phytochemical.

 

As is the case with many phytochemicals, low blood levels do not necessarily mean that a health benefit can not be achieved.  More research is needed to calculate the blood levels of a specific phytochemical as well as the different compounds it gets converted into.

A recent clinical trial found that blueberries when eaten are converted to more than 300 different compounds!

 

Reference: 

Bioavailability of Black Tea Theaflavins: Absorption, Metabolism, and Colonic Catabolism.  Journal of Agricultural and  Food Chemistry. 2017 July; Volume 65 (Issue 26): Pages 5365-5374.

Jeremy Johnson, PharmD, PhD
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Categories: Antioxidant, Plant Extracts, Plant Medicine