ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Nutr.
Sec. Nutrition and Metabolism
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnut.2025.1659500
This article is part of the Research TopicImpact of Plant Bioactive Compounds on Human Nutrition and HealthView all articles
Therapeutic effect of olive leaf tea (Olea europaea L.) on gastrointestinal symptoms and body composition parameters in adults suffering from small intestinal bacterial overgrowth
Provisionally accepted
- 1University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan
- 2University of York, York, United Kingdom
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Olive leaf has strong antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties, potentially modulating gut microbiota composition. This may help address small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO), a gastrointestinal (GI) problem causing malabsorption and potential complications. Objective: To observe the effect of Olive Leaf Tea (OLT) on GI symptoms, body composition, and the hydrogen/methane breath test among patients suffering from SIBO. Methods: A total of 49 SIBO individuals, confirmed after a glucose breath test (GBT), were divided randomly into two groups. The treatment group (n=25) took OLT (1.7g leaf powder/250ml water) twice/day for 2 months, and the control group (n=24) was given no tea. After the intervention, GBT was conducted, and symptoms were assessed through the GI symptom rating scale (GSRS) and symptomatic questionnaire, and body composition parameters were assessed. The area under the curve, chi-square, independent, and paired sample t-tests were performed for data analysis. Results: In the intervention group, there was a significant decrease observed in GSRS score (from 19 to 6.8), symptomatic score (4.1 to 1.7), H2/CH4 peak (20.8 to 5.7ppm), mean H2 (p=0.0041) and mean H2+CH4 production (p=0.0043), with 88% GBT normalization rate (p=0.001), as compared to the control group. A significant decrease in weight, TBW, BMR, and muscle mass was also documented (p<0.05). Conclusion: This study concludes that OLT consumption might have therapeutic benefits against SIBO by alleviating symptoms and normalizing GBT, but does not significantly improve body composition parameters.
Keywords: Gastrointestinal symptoms, Hydrogen Breath Test, Olive leaf tea, SIBO, Gut Microbiota
Received: 04 Jul 2025; Accepted: 11 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zafar, Ahmed, Tahir, Ahmad and Iqbal. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Abdul Momin Rizwan Ahmad, University of York, York, United Kingdom
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