A study published in Beverage Plant Research by a team at 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.
Current treatments for obesity, including drugs, surgery and strict dieting, can be effective but often carry risks such as vitamin deficiencies, muscle injury and liver damage.
Recently, evidence has grown for the health benefits of teas, particularly Pu-erh tea, which contains bioactive compounds such as 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, whilst 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.
In this study, researchers investigated the effects of a Pu-erh tea compound solid beverage (PTB) on obesity by administering it to mice being fed a high-fat diet (HFD).
Figure 1: Mouse experimental grouping diagram. ND group, normal diet group; OB group, obesity model group; PTBL group, low-dose Pu-erh tea solid beverage intervention group; PTBM group, middle dose of Pu-erh tea solid beverage intervention group; PTBH group, high-dose Pu-erh tea solid beverage intervention group; PT, Pu-erh tea extract; CA, green tea catechin; TH, theanine; n = 6.
The experimental design examined a wide range of physiological and biochemical indicators, including body weight, 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.
The Lee index was defined to classify obesity in rats in a similar approach to the BMI used for human obesity.
The Lee index is defined as the cube root of body weight (g) divided by the naso-anal length (mm).
Lee index values above 310 g were considered an indicator of obesity in rats.
PTB also normalised 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 whilst raising HDL-C.
Markers of liver injury were also reduced, along with the inflammatory mediators IL-6 and TNF-α, whilst antioxidant enzyme activities increased and lipid peroxidation 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 and increased brown fat weight.
In the colon, PTB enhanced expression of tight-junction proteins, restored goblet cell numbers and alleviated oedema 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 and increased 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.