A Double-Blind, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Study to Evaluate the Efficacy and Safety of STA-2 (Green Tea Polyphenols) in Patients with Chronic Stable Angina

Green tea intake has been shown to improve endurance capacity in animal studies, but whether it has a similar effect on humans remains unclear. A randomized, double-blinded, parallel-controlled study was conducted to evaluate the short-term effect of STA-2, a pharmaceutical preparation of green tea polyphenols, in patients with effort-induced angina and documented positive exercise tolerance test. A total of 79 patients recruited from three medical centers were randomly assigned to receive 2 STA-2 250 mg capsules, each containing 100 mg green tea polyphenols, three times daily, or placebo for six weeks after two consecutive symptom-limited treadmill exercise tests to ascertain the reproducibility of exercise tolerance. There was no difference in total exercise tolerance time from baseline to Week 6 between two groups (p = 0.639). There were also no observed improvements in subgroup analyses stratified by age, gender, and BMI categories. However, a significant reduction in low-density lipoprotein levels was shown in patients in the STA-2 group (-8.99 ± 19.18 mg/dL) versus the placebo group (0.57 ± 19.77 mg/dL), p = 0.037, with greater benefits in patients not taking antihyperlipidemic drugs (STA-2: -9.10 ± 19.96 mg/dL vs. placebo: 4.42 ± 15.08 mg/dL, p = 0.037). STA-2 treatment for 6 weeks did not increase exercise time as measured on a treadmill. However, this study also indicated that STA-2 treatment could have potential beneficial effects on LDL-cholesterol concentrations.