Impacts of Biotransformation on the Health Benefits of Tea Polyphenols

Abstract

Consumption of tea has been associated with many health benefits including the prevention of cardiovascular disease, cancer, and obesity. These effects are attributed to the polyphenol compounds in tea with catechins being the major components in green tea and theaflavins (TFs) and thearubigins (TRs) as the unique compounds in black tea. Tea polyphenols are extensively metabolized in vivo and have poor systematic bioavailability. It is generally believed that the metabolites of tea polyphenols retain their bioactivities and some of the microbial metabolites are more bioavailable than the parent compounds. This manuscript summarizes the recent progress on the identification of novel metabolic path-ways of tea polyphenols and their contributions to the health benefits of tea.