But now, doctors in the United Kingdom are warning of the hidden dangers of green tea after a teenager contracted acute hepatitis after drinking too much. It can be caused by a virus, or when the liver is exposed to harmful substances such as alcohol.
Advertisement
The report explained that the girl, born in Yemen, had not taken any “prescribed or “over-the-counter” medications, and there was no recent travel history”.
When doctors questioned her she told them about ordering and drinking Chinese green tea for weight loss.
After she was ordered to stop drinking the tea by her doctors, the teen subsequently made a quick recovery.
Here’s a scary story for the end of the week: An unidentified 16-year-old British teenager developed hepatitis and suffered from jaundice as a result of drinking a Chinese green tea she thought would help her lose weight.
“I had only lost a couple of pounds but then started having disgusting pains in my joints, and felt very dizzy and sick”, she continued. Unfortunately, her condition was so advanced it took the teen months to recover from her illness, possibly due to the fact that even a cursory search for “green tea weight loss directions” suggests that such a supplement shouldn’t be consumed more than once a day and for a period of no longer than ten days. “People should be more aware of what they are buying and the side effects”.
According to a new report in British medical journal BMJ Case Reports, the 16-year-old first visited her doctor after drinking three cups of green tea a day for “a few months”, complaining of nausea, dizziness, and joint pains. Most of the ingredients of the tea I bought were written in Chinese’.
The girl was treated with fluids and drugs through a drip to reduce swelling to her liver and was able to return home after a short stay in the hospital. The tea contained an ingredient called Camellia sinensis, which is a shrub whose leaves are used to create the tea.
Green tea has always been the hot beverage of choice for Mason jar-wielding detoxers and those attempting to extract themselves from coffee’s shakey embrace (give it two weeks.) It’s calorie-free, it’s natural, and it’s green. In fact, researchers say that, in some cases, such brews can make people so sick they need a liver transplant.
“We acknowledge that green tea is predominantly a very safe and healthy drink, with antioxidant properties”, the case study authors wrote, explaining secondary additives may cause harm. She also did not travel overseas recently and has never had a blood transfusion, which are other ways acute hepatitis can occur.
Or it may be that the pesticides used on the tea trees are to blame.
Advertisement
“There is potential for pesticide-induced hepatitis to exist, especially from less regulated products ordered from developing countries over the internet”, said the report.
