Doctors warn of Green tea infusions for weight-loss seriously affecting health (Photo : REUTERS/HAN JAE-HO)
A British teen who developed a condition of hepatitis after consuming Chinese herbal green tea she purchased online has sworn off quick fix weight-loss remedies.
The 16-year-old, whose name has not been revealed, used the tea for three months began feel nausea, dizziness and joint pains, according to the Daily Mail.
She was sent home with antibiotics by doctors who believed she was suffering from a urinary tract infection. Then, the teen began getting worse and returned to Birmingham Hospital with a condition of jaundice.
The doctors who attended to the teen described her condition in the journal, BMJ Case Reports, saying her symptoms were serious and required critical attention as they believed she was suffering from hepatitis.
During questioning the youth revealed to doctors that she had ordered Chinese green tea, after she was informed that the tea would aid weight-loss. The teenager told doctors who compiled the report for the journal that she began drinking three cups of tea a day for a few months. While she said she lost a few pounds, she admitted to developing joint pains and began feeling sick.
The youth further told doctors that the instructions for the tea were written in Chinese and she was not aware of what was in the tea, saying that she would never order weight-loss pills or Chinese green tea again.
Doctors compiling the journal report said an ingredient Camellia sinensis - found in the tea was the cause behind the girl's sickness. The authors of the report noted that while green tea is normally "safe and healthy to drink," it is the ingredients added to the tea rather than the tea leaves alone that are usually responsible for causing illness.
The journal report by the doctors noted that individuals should be careful of what is consumed as several green tea-related sicknesses, including those that cause liver damage, have been reported in medical literature previously.
Further the authors warned that consumers need to be vigilant when purchasing weight loss products online as it has been documented that individuals have fallen sick having ingested tea leaf powder, Green tea extracts and green tea infused diet pills.
