The anti-obesity effects of EGCG in relation to oxidative stress and air-pollution in China

Modern China, similar to most developing nations, has seen a rise in the prevalence of both obesity and diesel exhaust based air pollution. The cause of obesity is multi-factorial encompassing diet, lifestyle and social factors. Also there has been a reduction in the consumption of fruit, vegetables, and traditional medicinal foods such as polyphenol containing green tea. Replacing these, are high fat and carbohydrate based processed foods which are quickly displacing these wholefoods in the diet. This review paper proposes evidence that a potential cause of obesity is also linked to environmental stress stimuli such as air pollutants, particularly diesel exhaust fumes (DEF) of > 2.5 μm particulate matter, and discusses a role for a green tea catechin (EGCG) for use as a dietary defence against diet and environmentally induced obesity. China is now at a critical point of a public health pandemic with rising air-borne pollution (via car exhaust fumes DEF), industry pollution such as heavy metals, and the benzene hydrocarbon based ‘2PM’ particulate matter, now accepted as a major environmental issue for public health. Relevant data published in MEDLINE since 1995 has been gathered to formulate the following review. [Image: see text]