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Effect of fluid replacement with green tea on body fluid balance and renal responses under mild thermal hypohydration: a randomized crossover study

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Abstract

Purpose

Maintaining an appropriate hydration level by ingesting fluid in a hot environment is a measure to prevent heat-related illness. Caffeine-containing beverages, including green tea (GT), have been avoided as inappropriate rehydration beverages to prevent heat-related illness because caffeine has been assumed to exert diuretic/natriuretic action. However, the influence of caffeine intake on urine output in dehydrated individuals is not well documented. The aim of the present study was to examine the effect of fluid replacement with GT on body fluid balance and renal water and electrolyte handling in mildly dehydrated individuals.

Methods

Subjects were dehydrated by performing three bouts of stepping exercise for 20 min separated by 10 min of rest. They were asked to ingest an amount of water (H2O), GT, or caffeinated H2O (20 mg/100 ml; Caf-H2O) that was equal to the volume of fluid loss during the dehydration protocol; fluid balance was measured for 2 h after fluid ingestion.

Results

The dehydration protocol induced hypohydration by ~ 10 g/kg body weight (~ 1% of body weight). Fluid balance 2 h after fluid ingestion was significantly less negative in all trials, and the fluid retention ratio was 52.2 ± 4.2% with H2O, 51.0 ± 5.0% with GT, and 47.9 ± 6.2% with Caf-H2O; those values did not differ among the trials. After rehydration, urine output, urine osmolality, and urinary excretions of osmotically active substances, sodium, potassium and chloride were not different among the trials.

Conclusion

The data indicate that ingestion of GT or an equivalent caffeine amount does not worsen the hydration level 2 h after ingestion and can be effective in reducing the negative fluid balance for acute recovery from mild hypohydration.

Trial registration

ISRCTN53057185; retrospectively registered.

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Data availability

The data will be available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Funding

This study was funded by ITO EN, Ltd. and by Nara Women’s University.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Health, Nara Women’s University, Nara, Japan

    Akira Takamata, Ayano Oka, Mayuna Nagata, Natsumi Kosugi, Sayaka Eguchi, Nanako Sakagawa, Aoi Takahashi, Yuki Nishimoto, Mio Nishimaki & Keiko Morimoto

  2. Department of Health and Nutrition, Kyoto Koka Women’s University, Kyoto, Japan

    Keiko Morimoto

  3. Central Research Institute, ITO EN, Ltd., Makinohara, Shizuoka, Japan

    Takanobu Takihara

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  1. Akira Takamata
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Contributions

Conception and design were performed by AT, KM and TT; material, data collection and analysis were performed by AT, AO, MN, NK, SE, NS, AT, YN, MN, and TT; the first draft of the manuscript was written by AT; and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Akira Takamata.

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Conflict of interest

T.T. is an employee of ITO EN, and this study was funded, in part, by ITO EN, Ltd. The study was conducted as a collaborative study, and the company had no influence over the scientific interpretation of the collected data or the publication of this article.

Ethics approval

All experimental protocols and procedures in the present study were approved by the Review Board on Human Experiments of Nara Women’s University (Approval #20–37).

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Takamata, A., Oka, A., Nagata, M. et al. Effect of fluid replacement with green tea on body fluid balance and renal responses under mild thermal hypohydration: a randomized crossover study. Eur J Nutr 62, 3339–3347 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-023-03236-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00394-023-03236-3

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