Antilipogenic effect of green tea extract in C57BL/6J‐Lepob/ob mice

The objective of this study was to determine the effects of green tea extract (GTE) on lipid metabolism in obese animal models. Male C57BL/6J‐Lepob/ob mice were divided into control and GTE (0.05 g/100 g diet) groups, which were fed a high‐fat (20 g/100 g diet) diet for 12 weeks. Supplementation of GTE significantly reduced (p < 0.01) perirenal and total white adipose tissue weights compared with the control group. Also, the plasma HDL‐cholesterol level was significantly higher in the GTE group than in the control group, therefore the GTE group showed a higher HDL‐cholesterol/total‐cholesterol ratio (HTR) and lower atherogenic index (AI) level than the control group. A reduction of hepatic triglyceride content and adipose tissue weight in the GTE group was related to the suppression of enzyme activities for fatty acid synthesis (glucose‐6‐phosphate dehydrogenase and malic enzyme) without affecting fatty acid oxidation enzyme (β‐oxidation and carnitine palmitoyl transferase) activities in hepatic and adipose tissue. The current results showed that supplementation of green tea extract is beneficial for antiobesity by the suppression of lipogenesis via regulation of related enzyme activities in hepatic and adipose tissue. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.