Teen’s Hepatitis Diagnosis Depicts

Teen’s Hepatitis Diagnosis Depicts Dangers of Buying Green Tea Online
If you’ve recently clicked to buy green tea from uncertain origins, please read this important warning. (Photo: Getty Images)
A teenage girl in the U.K. who drank green tea in an attempt to lose weight ended up in the hospital — with acute hepatitis.
The girl’s story is the subject of a surprising new case study published in the journalBMJ Case Reports.
The study details how the 16-year-old girl (who has not been identified), went to her doctor after experiencing nausea, joint pain, and abdominal pain. Her doctor thought she had a urinary tract infection and prescribed antibiotics. But the teenager became jaundiced and her symptoms became worse.
She landed in the ER, where she told doctors that she had ordered Chinese green tea online and had been drinking more than three cups a day for three months in an attempt to lose weight.
“I had only lost a couple of pounds but then started having horrible pains in my joints, and felt very dizzy and sick,” she said, per the study. “I was very scared when I was admitted to [the] hospital and had lots of tests. I didn’t fully understand what was going on at the time.”
Looking back, the teenager says her ailments were “definitely” due to the tea. “I will never buy any online tea again,” she said.
The study calls her case a “rare yet recurring theme,” citing other cases of hepatotoxicity (i.e. liver damage) from green tea.
But green tea has been praised as a healthy drink, largely due to its antioxidant properties.