Matcha and green tea catechins in fatty liver disease
What it found
In people and in animals, matcha and green tea catechins were linked to lower body weight, cholesterol and liver fat, but the human studies were small and short.
The authors say the results are promising but early.
What they found
Studies in people
Body weight and blood markers
Long-term green tea use in people from Brazil, Jordan, Taiwan and the USA was linked to lower body mass, waist size, fasting glucose, HbA1c, LDL cholesterol and total cholesterol. But a meta-analysis of earlier trials and a group-switch trial in obese people or those at risk of type 2 diabetes found no differences in blood glucose or other metabolic measures.
Liver enzymes in people
Only one human study looked at liver function directly, using blood liver enzyme levels after green tea catechins. Another study found matcha changed gut bacteria, increasing Caprococcus spp. and decreasing Fusobacterium spp., which the authors say may be helpful.
Animal and lab studies
Liver fat in animals
Most rodent studies found less liver fat, better liver enzyme levels and fewer inflammatory markers after matcha supplementation. Some also showed changes in gut bacteria that reversed the unfavourable shifts caused by a high-fat diet.
EGCG in animals
Tea extracts rich in EGCG were tested in rats, mice and beagle dogs. They lowered liver enzymes, cholesterol, LDL, fat mass and inflammation, and some studies showed less fibrosis. In most rodent studies EGCG did not change body weight.
Studies in people and animals
Powdered green tea
In people with mild to moderate fatty liver, 90 days of powdered green tea supplements lowered liver enzymes and body weight. In mice on a high-fat diet, powdered green tea reduced inflammatory markers and liver fat and changed genes involved in fat metabolism.
What the authors conclude
“In both human and animal studies, the beneficial effects on body weight, cholesterol levels, and liver metabolism and function were noted, even in short-period experiments.”
Also in their conclusions
- They say the published data are promising and that beneficial effects on body weight, cholesterol and the liver were seen in both human and animal studies, even in short experiments.
- They call for more experiments to confirm the animal results and to show how green tea works, and for larger, longer studies in people with fatty liver disease.
How it was done
There is no medicine for fatty liver disease, so people are advised to lose weight through diet and exercise. Green tea and matcha are often recommended for their anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties, and the authors wanted to see what the research shows for liver metabolism.
They gathered published human trials and animal studies on matcha extracts and EGCG supplements in the context of fatty liver disease. The human studies included people with type 2 diabetes or at risk of metabolic disorders, and the animal studies mostly used rodents fed a high-fat diet.
What it can’t tell you
- The human studies were small and used different doses and forms of matcha or EGCG, so the results are hard to generalise to all people with fatty liver disease.
- Animal studies cannot show what happens in people, and most used young male animals on a high-fat diet, which may not reflect real life.
- This is not a systematic review, so the authors did not pool the results statistically to get an overall measure of effect.
Who paid
- Conflicts
- The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
- Authors work at
- Pomeranian Medical University in Szczecin, Poland
The paper
- Title
- Influence of Matcha and Tea Catechins on the Progression of Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease (MASLD)-A Review of Patient Trials and Animal Studies
- Type
- ReviewThe authors read earlier studies and describe what they found. It isn’t a new study.
- Evidence
- Studies in people · animals · lab
- Summarised from
- Full text
- Licence
- CC BY. Words in quotation marks are the authors’; the rest is our summary.
- Cite
- Kosik-Bogacka DI, Piotrowska K (2025). Influence of Matcha and Tea Catechins on the Progression of Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease (MASLD)-A Review of Patient Trials and Animal Studies. Nutrients. doi:10.3390/nu17152532Free full textPubMed 40806117DOI
Summary written 29 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error