How does the nutrition analysis of regular green

tea compare with decaffeinated green tea?

In general, decaffeinated green tea is simply a more

processed form of the green tea that has not been
decaffeinated. Like all foods, green tea will have its
nutrient content reduced as it becomes more and more
processed. It would be very rare for a processed food to
contain the same amount of nutrients, or more
nutrients, than a processed food. (The only exceptions
would be artificially fortified or enriched foods that have
had vitamins or other nutrients deliberately added back
during the manufacturing process.)

All green teas undergo some processing since some

form of heat is necessary to stop the oxidation processes
that occur naturally with freshly picked tea leaves.
However, this processing can be very minimal and can
leave the vast majority of nutrients intact.

Decaffeination of green tea is not quite as simple. There

are three basic ways in which caffeine gets removed
from tea leaves.

In one method, compressed carbon dioxide (CO2) is

combined with water to create a solution that will draw
caffeine (and other substances) out from the leaves.
Once the tea leaves have been soaked in this solution,
they are removed, and the solution can then be passed
through an activated carbon filter to remove the
caffeine. The tea leaves can then be re-immersed in the
solution so that some of the lost flavoring components
can be restored. This method of green tea
decaffeination is sometimes called the effervescence or
CO2 method.

A second approach is to soak the leaves in water for an

extended period of time to allow for the release of
caffeine (and other substances) from the leaves, then to
remove the leaves and add a chemical solvent like ethyl
acetate to the caffeine-containing water. Once this
solvent has extracted the caffeine, the tea leaves can be
re-immersed in the water to allow the natural flavors
(and other factors) to be restored.

A third approach is to use hot water alone as an agent

for removing caffeine from the tea leaves. Approximately
three minutes of boiling is sufficient to reduce the
caffeine content of green tea leaves by about 80-85%.

The second method of decaffeination is definitely one I

do not recommend since the tea leaves are returned to
water that has trace (or higher) residues of ethyl
acetate. Even though ethyl acetate can be a naturally
occurring substance (it's present in several common
fruits, for example), it's also a known toxin in high doses
and at these high doses is known to disrupt activity in
the liver, respiratory system, and central nervous
system. The other two approacheseffervescence using
CO2 or hot water aloneseem like lower risk
approaches to me.

There is no question that some nutrients are lost from

green tea in any decaffeination process. I've only seen
two published studies in this area, however. I have been
impressed by one very recent research study that
showed very little loss (about 5%) of certain key
phytonutrients (called catechins) from hot-water-
decaffeinated green tea leaves. It's important to note,
however, that this study involved fresh tea leaves that
had been neither dried nor rolled. The researchers
themselves pointed out that far more catechins were lost
in the case of dried or dried/rolled tea leaves. Still, it's
encouraging that at least in this one particular case, a
decaffeination process could result in so little damage to
these components.

These research results pointed in the same general

direction as an animal study I found that showed
significant skin protection from nutrients in water-
decaffeinated green tea. In comparison with non-
processed green tea, water-decaffeinated green tea lost
about 16% effectiveness in protecting the skin cells of
mice. I am uncomfortable trying to draw any conclusions
about human consumption of decaf green tea from a
single study on mice. But once again, it is encouraging
to see results that point in the same general direction as
the phytonutrient loss study that I described earlier.

For individuals sensitive to caffeine, or individuals simply

choosing to follow a caffeine-free diet, water-
decaffeinated green tea or effervescence-decaffeinated
green tea makes good sense to me. There is definitely a
nutrient loss that occurs in the decaffeination process,
but the degree of loss seems like a good trade-off for
individuals who need or choose to avoid caffeine.

References:
Lianga H, Liang Y, Donga J, et al. Decaffeination of fresh
green tea leaf (Camellia sinensis) by hot water
treatment. Food Chemistry. 2007;101(4)4:1451-1456.

Wang ZY, Huang MT, Lou YR, et al. Inhibitory effects of

black tea, green tea, decaffeinated black tea, and
decaffeinated green tea on ultraviolet B light-induced
skin carcinogenesis in 7,12-dimethylbenzanthracene-
initiated SKH-1 mice. Cancer Res. 1994 Jul
1;54(13):3428-35.

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