A 16-year-old girl born in Yemen consumed mysterious Chinese green tea for 3 months with the hope of weight loss and tested positive for Hepatitis.
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| (Photo by Mareefe | Pexels.com) |
This 16-year-old girl presented to her doctor with symptoms of Arthralgia, Nausea, and abdominal pain and she was prescribed amoxicillin as she initially that it was just a urinary tract infection. But after two days she met with an accident and was taken to the emergency department with worsening symptoms. Doctors questioned her about any alcohol consumption or illicit drug intake as she was noted to have Jaundice. However, she denied alcohol consumption, illicit drug intake, and over-the-counter medications. This confused doctors about what could have caused jaundice as she denied every other possibility. Later, she informed doctors that she consumed Chinese green tea three times a day for three months which she ordered online.
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| (By Karduelis | Wikimedia.com) |
Tests showed
inflammation in her liver (Hepatitis) though she had no viral diseases, metabolic
disorders, or any immune-related disorders. Later, it was found that mysterious
Chinese green tea had Camellia sinensis. This Chinese variety Camellia
sinensis has small leaves which is used to produce black and green tea.
Treatment
Doctors
were not able to find the chemistry of green tea which caused Hepatitis. But
when doctors asked her to stop consuming mysterious Chinese green tea, she
showed a sustained recovery from Hepatitis. Her hepatitis was completely
resolved after she was treated with intravenous fluids and N-acetylcysteine.
After she
was discharged from the outpatient hepatology clinic, she was followed up and
had normal liver function tests. Doctors concluded that Camellia sinensis was
the causative agent for the inflammation of her liver.
Other Case Reports
This is not the first time that green tea caused Liver damage. In 2005, A French citizen ended up in a liver transplant after consuming a supplement called Exolise which contained dry extracts of green tea. In 2014, A 63-year-old woman developed acute hepatitis after consuming capsules that contained concentrated green tea extract.
Doctors asked
people to be careful of what they ingest and know what herbal products they are
taking because some things can cause problems. But it is not necessary to abandon
the beverage, drinking regular tea and avoiding drinking special tea is appreciated.
In addition to special tea, there are other herbal supplements that may cause
Liver toxicity.