Hormonal
Consumption of theabrownin, a pigment in Pu-erh tea, lowers serum and hepatic cholesterol and triglycerides by suppressing bile salt hydrolase (BSH) activity in gut microbiota, which increases ileal conjugated bile acids and inhibits the intestinal FXR-FGF15 signaling pathway, thereby stimulating hepatic bile acid synthesis and excretion.
Drinking Pu-erh tea (specifically the fermented variety rich in theabrownin) can help lower cholesterol and triglycerides. This works not by suppressing appetite, but by changing gut bacteria to reduce bile acid breakdown, which signals the liver to burn more cholesterol. A typical effective dose in the study was roughly 300ml of strong Pu-erh tea twice daily for humans, or equivalent purified theabrownin supplementation.
Here, we show that theabrownin alters the gut microbiota in mice and humans, predominantly suppressing microbes associated with bile-salt hydrolase (BSH) activity. Theabrownin increases the levels of ileal conjugated bile acids (BAs) which, in turn, inhibit the intestinal FXR-FGF15 signaling pathway, resulting in increased hepatic production and fecal excretion of BAs, reduced hepatic cholesterol, and decreased lipogenesis.
Why this rating
Strong mechanistic evidence in mice and humans, but the human study is small (n=13) and short-term (4 weeks).
Source
Theabrownin from Pu-erh tea attenuates hypercholesterolemia via modulation of gut microbiota and bile acid metabolism
Fengjie Huang et al. · Nature Communications · 2019
DOI 10.1038/s41467-019-12896-x
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