I have been writing about health-related issues for many years and this is one of the most unusual cases I’ve ever come across. It involves a teenager from England who went to the doctor because she was feeling dizzy, nauseous and had painful bodyaches.
The doctor thought that her symptoms were part of a urinary tract infection and he gave her some antibiotics and sent her home. The girl only took two doses and she continued to become sicker, so she went to the emergency room at the local hospital. While treating her, the doctors noticed that the whites of her eyes had turned yellow and her skin had a yellow overtone.
This indicated that there was a problem with her liver, and it was causing jaundice.
At this point, the teen went from a normal case to a case that needed critical attention. It was thought that the girl had hepatitis and her liver was inflamed and swollen.
It is unusual for an otherwise healthy 16-year-old girl to develop hepatitis so suddenly. They began to investigate the circumstances that led to this condition. After uncovering the truth about the matter, the doctors were rather alarmed, yet the problem was much more widespread than what anybody thought.
She went through the usual questions of whether she had traveled abroad, taken prescription or illegal drugs or if she had consumed alcohol. She was not a candidate because of any of those reasons, nor did she have a blood transfusion or experienced anything out of the ordinary that could have led to her hepatitis. What her doctors did discover, however, is that she had ordered two boxes of green tea from China and had been drinking 3 cups per day of the tea for several months.
The teenager was using it for weight loss purposes and thought that the green tea could help control her appetite. Since the instructions were written in Chinese, however, she had no idea what they said, nor did she know what was in the tea she was drinking. After obtaining a sample and having it tested, the doctors immediately ordered her to stop drinking it.
In the tea was something known as Camellia sinesis, which is commonly used in making various teas, including green tea. It is found in a type of evergreen shrub and is harvested for that purpose. It was that ingredient that was causing the illness and she was not alone. It had previously been associated with liver damage and hepatitis in women who had used various green tea supplements and extracts.
In some cases, women who were using green tea supplements and extracts had liver damage so severe that they needed a liver transplant. It has even caused death in some cases! It was also suspected that there were other chemicals being added to the green tea that this teenager was using so that it would have a stronger weight-loss effect.
Information about this particular case was written by the doctors for the Journal BMJ Case Reports:
“There is potential for pesticide-induced hepatitis to exist, especially from less regulated products ordered from developing countries over the internet.”
Since it is difficult to be fully aware of the quality and integrity of the tea that is purchased online, it is urged that you should either be cautious or avoid buying it online altogether.
Fortunately, a quick recovery was possible for this teenager and after 2 months of not drinking the tea, her liver function had returned to normal. Her case is being used by doctors to highlight the fact that drinking excessive green tea can lead to liver disease. In addition, many varieties of green tea, including those that promise weight loss, may contain additional harmful substances, including pesticides.
If you drink green tea, make sure that you are aware of the brand and limit your intake to a safe amount. Green tea has benefits but it is better to be safe than sorry.
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