2011 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Research on the bioavailability of tea catechins and their corresponding epimers

Research Project

Project/Area Number	21700743
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Research Field	Eating habits, studies on eating habits
Research Institution	Tokyo Kasei Gakuin University
Principal Investigator	UNNO Tomonori 東京家政学院大学, 現代生活学部, 准教授 (90439753)
Project Period (FY)	2009 – 2011
Keywords	調理と機能性成分
Research Abstract	Tea catechins are easily converted into their epimers by heat treatment. The study aimed to compare the oral bioavailability between original tea catechins and their corresponding epimers. Catechins in the epimer form were induced by autoclaving, and were purified with a column chromatographic technique. High-performance liquid chromatographic determination revealed that the concentrations of epimer-form catechins in the plasma obtained after their oral administrations to mice were lower than the original tea catechins, possibly indicating a different bioavailability.