Sencha Extract

All three are unoxidized green teas from Camellia sinensis, but they differ in cultivation and processing. Sencha is grown in full sunlight, steamed, rolled, and dried into needle-shaped leaves; it accounts for the majority of Japanese tea production. Gyokuro is shade-grown for around three weeks before harvest, raising L-theanine and lowering catechins, then processed similarly to sencha. Matcha is shade-grown like gyokuro but the leaves are de-stemmed (tencha) and stone-milled into a fine powder consumed in suspension.

Sencha leaves and their water-soluble extracts contain (per published Japanese tea-chemistry data): catechins 12–18% of dry leaf, principally epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG); caffeine 2–4%; L-theanine 1–2%; chlorophyll, carotenoids, and saponins; vitamin C in fresh-leaf preparations. EGCG is the most-studied catechin in clinical literature for antioxidant and metabolic outcomes.

Yes. EFSA's 2018 scientific opinion concluded that EGCG doses ≥800 mg/day from green tea extracts may be associated with hepatotoxicity in some individuals, particularly when consumed on an empty stomach or as bolus supplements. Brewed sencha consumed traditionally is not implicated; the safety signal applies to concentrated extract supplements. Several jurisdictions now require warning statements on green-tea-extract products at high concentrations.

Yes. Multiple FFC notifications cite gallate-type catechins from green tea (in beverages and supplements) for claims around body fat reduction support and abdominal fat reduction. Specific approved wording, dosage, and target populations are set per notification and listed in the Consumer Affairs Agency database. Japan's pioneering Tokuho 'Healthya' (花王) is the historical reference product for the catechin–body-fat claim.