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Green tea catechins

In the body: Taken as a supplement, 800 mg of EGCG a day or more raised a blood marker of liver injury in a small share of people in trials. EFSA found no such concern for brewed tea at the amounts people drink.

Not rated by dose: a flag on one reviewed food, green tea.

Background. Shown, not scored: no dose basis at normal intake, a classification rather than a risk, or legal limits only.

All hazards

A dose linked to an effect, not a limit

The dose at which the effect was seen in studies: not a safe amount or an allowance. No food on this page is counted against it.

  • The agency’s figure800 mg EGCG/day (food supplement)
  • BasisEFSA ANS 2018: evidence from interventional trials that EGCG doses of 800 mg/day or more taken as a food supplement (green tea extract, 4 months or longer) raise serum transaminases in a small percentage (usually under 10%) of people. EFSA set no health-based guidance value; for traditional infusions it finds a presumption of safety at reported intakes (effect level (no no-observed-adverse-effect level (NOAEL) or guidance value set))
  • Average adult intake90–300 mg EGCG/day EFSA 2018: mean adult EGCG intake from green tea infusions 90-300 mg/day across EU surveys; high-level consumers up to 866 mg/day (Table 6: adults mean 85.98-321.21, 95th percentile 308-866.25)
  • Applies toextracts and supplements; infusions not scored
  • Source EFSA 2018

Reviewed foods that carry it

1 reviewed food carries it; none is rated by dose.

How often you can eat it

No grams figure: the agency gives an effect level, not a health-based limit, so there is nothing to count grams against.

No food here is rated by dose. Each line says why it’s listed: a flag for the people the source names, advice on handling it, or context.

Flags and context, not rated by dose

  • Green tea, brewed

    Context

    175 mg
    per serving
    EGCG per cup

    EFSA 2018 · grade B

    How it’s rated

    Shown as context, not rated: one 250 g cup carries about 175 mg of EGCG (0.7 mg/g, the USDA database mean of 100 brewed green teas), 22% of the 800 mg/day supplement effect level, and 4.6 cups reach 800 mg. Against EFSA's mean adult exposure from infusions (90–300 mg/day) a cup adds 58–194%. EFSA found no raised liver enzyme (ALT) at five or more cups a day or 700 mg EGCG/day from infusion; the effect level is for extracts, so it is not scored.

    Intake: one 250 mL (250 g) cup a day, 70 kg adult · Level in the food: 700 µg/g (mean EGCG (0.7 mg/g of brewed green tea), n = 100)

    Measured on: EFSA 2018 used the USDA Database for the Flavonoid Content of Selected Foods v3.1 mean for 100 brewed green tea samples from 12 references, 0.7 mg EGCG/g of brewed green tea; not a Canadian survey.

Sources