Abstract: To investigate the preventive effect of Fu brick tea with different years on high-fat diet-induced obesity and hyperlipidemia, this experiment was conducted with C57BL/6J mice, and Fu brick tea aged for 1 and 10 years were used as representative tea samples. The normal diet group (ND), high-fat diet group (HFD), and Fu brick tea with different ageing time (10Y, 1Y) were set up. The analysis of bioactive components of the tea samples reveals a significant increase in the contents of theabrownin and soluble sugars, and a significant decrease in polyphenols and catechin monomers in Fu brick tea aged for 10 years. Animal test results show that Fu brick tea aged for 1 year and 10 years were effective in reducing liver and serum lipid levels, body weight gain, organ coefficients and adipose tissue weights compared to the HFD group, and that Fu brick tea aged for 10 years had a relatively significant effect. Liver and adipose tissue sections show that Fu brick tea supplementation reduced the formation of lipid droplets and the appearance of vacuoles in the liver, as well as inhibited adipocyte expansion. In addition, Fu brick tea supplementation ameliorated inflammation and hepatic oxidative stress caused by a high-fat diet. Compared with Fu brick tea aged for 1 year, Fu brick tea aged for 10 years significantly reduced the levels of the inflammatory factors IL-6 and TNF-α, as well as the liver injury indicators (AST and ALT viabilities), while significantly up-regulating the hepatic GSH content (P<0.05). This may be a result of the richness of theabrownin in 10-year aged Fu brick tea and its co-action with other active ingredients.

Key words: aged Fu brick tea, hyperlipidemia, lipid metabolism, alleviative effect