Yet Another Use For Green Tea Extract

Teavigo green tea extract has recently achieved GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe) affirmation, giving food and beverage makers in the US a strong signal of the ingredient’s suitability in new food products. Although Teavigo is already being used in a number of supplement products in the Japanese and US market, under brands including GNC, Vitamin Shoppe and Healthy Origins, American food companies say they intend to wait for GRAS status before using a new ingredient in their products.

The GRAS dossier was supported by a 'package' of data on the safety of EGCG (epigallocatechin gallate), the major active component in green tea and a potent antioxidant, as well as animal trials and human tolerance studies using Teavigo itself.

South Africa, the only market that is already offering a wide range of food products containing the ingredient, products including an iced tea, sorbet, cereal bar and juice drink make the claim that Teavigo keeps body cells health and helps prevent damage caused by free radicals.

However researchers say results from several clinical trials investigating the product's effects on weight management, the application seeing most interest from both food and supplement makers, could have a bigger impact on the food market than safety, already accepted by supplement makers.

The first weight management food product containing Teavigo has just entered the Italian market in the form of a powder-based supplement for dieters, however researchers say there are many ongoing activities to develop more products in this field.

Medindia on Tea: Tea is a beverage made from the processed leaf of a plant whose Latin name is: Camellia sinensis. Some people who have been around for a long time in the tea industry still call it by its now out-dated name of Thea sinensis.

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