INVESTIGATING THE EFFECTS OF HERBAL SLIMMING TEA AND GREEN TEA ON ANAEROBIC RESPIRATION OF YEAST AND COMPARING THE ANTIMICROBIAL ACTIVITY

With the increasing incidence of obesity in society most of the people try alternative ways to control or lose their weight. Herbal slimming teas are commonly used as alternative medicine among the people. These herbal tea mixtures include Mate, Shrub leaves, Thyme, Rosemary and Green tea. Based on these informations in my study, I investigated the effects of Herbal Slimming Tea and Green Tea on the anaerobic respiration of yeast. I also compared the antimicrobial effects of them.
Accordingly my hypotesis was; “Different kinds of herbal teas speed up the anaerobic respiration metabolism more than water”. My research was based on water as control group, slimming tea and green tea as test groups.
Slimming herbal tea and green tea products were obtained as small cup bags from herbalist. Slimming tea and green tea solutions were prepared by adding same amount of boiling water(200ml) and then they were cooled to 35ºC. Sucrose(20g) was added to each of the solution . Tea solutions with sugar were then tested for determination of the anaerobic respiration in the yeast cells. The CO2 formed, as a result of the anaerobic respiration in yeast, was collected in a glass syringe piston. The results were obtained and compared. The CO2 amount formed by the yeast cells that are suspended in the green tea was higher than the CO2 gas in the herbal slimming tea and water (control) group. This result supported my hypothesis.
In the second part of the project, I investigated the antimicrobial effects of slimming tea and green tea by comparing the results with water. Using disc diffusion method of Kirby-Bauer E.coli culture was inoculated and paper discs with tea solutions were applied on Hinton-Mueller agar. As a result green tea solution showed larger inhibition zone around discs than the herbal slimming tea and water, which means higher antimicrobial activity.
As a conclusion, green tea has a positive effect on increasing the anaerobic respiration in yeasts , also it has a higher antimicrobial activity than herbal slimming tea and water. So if it has same effects on human metabolism as in yeast, it can increase our metabolic rate and we can lose weight.