A Teenager Contracted Hepatitis After Drinking Green Tea

A teenage girl hoping to lose weight by drinking green tea ended up in a critical condition when her liver swelled and her skin turned yellow.

The report explained that the girl, born in Yemen, had not taken any “prescribed or “over-the-counter” medications, and there was no recent travel history”.

Celebrities who have been quoted endorsing drinking green tea include Lady Gaga, Johnny Depp, Oprah Winfrey, Robert Pattinson, Victoria Beckham and Gwyneth Paltrow.

Doctors said a teen’s bid to lose weight by drinking tea left her with serious health complications, including acute hepatitis.

It went on: “After ceasing green tea consumption, there was a rapid and sustained recovery of her hepatitis”.

“I had only lost a couple of pounds but then started having disgusting pains in my joints, and felt very dizzy and sick”. Since there was no sign of a viral infection, doctors assumed that it must have been alcohol or some drug that had made her sick.

“I was very scared when I was admitted to hospital and had lots of tests, I didn’t fully understand what was going on at the time.

It is the addition of other chemicals causing hepatotoxicity, particularly in preparations used for weight loss”, specialists write in the journal BMJ Case Reports.

Following a short stay in hospital, she was discharged, and two months later her liver function was found to be normal.

Despite the dangers, the report authors were sure to still endorse green tea: “We acknowledge that green tea is predominantly a very safe and healthy drink, with antioxidant properties”.

They also said pesticides on the green tea leaves could potentially cause problems for tea drinkers.

“Now I look back it was definitely due to the tea, I never took anything else and it all started happening after drinking the tea”.

The list of ingredients was in Chinese and so the girl didn’t really know what was in it. It was medical experts at the Birmingham University Hospital who figured out the brew contained leaves and buds from a shrub called Camellia sinensis, and that this had caused her hepatitis. Even if the tea doesn’t give you hepatitis, it might cause uncontrollable diarrhea and abdominal pain.

‘People should be more aware of what they are buying and the side effects.

“There is potential for pesticide-induced hepatitis to exist, especially from less regulated products ordered from developing countries over the internet”, said the report. “The use of herbal remedies is underreported, the breadth of use is under-recognized by clinicians”.

‘Our case is a good illustration of this rare but recurring theme’.

A double shot, extra cream macchiato might go straight to your hips (and caffeine-frazzled brain) but at least your liver will be intact. The disease causes an inflammation in the liver that can be triggered by other infections, toxic substances (alcohol, certain drugs), and autoimmune diseases, according to the World Health Organization.

Sometimes the liver damage is so severe that a transplant is required.