Effect of Heavy Consumption of Black Tea Brew of Camellia sinensis on Fertility of Male Rats

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of a high dose of black tea brew (BTB), made from Sri Lankan high grown Dust grade No: 1 tea on fertility of males using rats. A high dose of B T B (501 mg/ml; equivalent to 9 cups) was orally administered to rats for 72 consecutive days and their libido, ejaculatory competence and fertility were assessed for three days prior to treatment and on days 3, 7, 21, and 72 of treatment by individually pairing overnight with a prooestrous female. Selected pre-natal and early post-natal developmental parameters of pups of mated females were also determined. The results showed that B T B has no effect on libido (in terms of precoital sexual behaviour and index of libido), ejaculatory competence (in terms of vaginal sperm counts) and fertility (in terms of quanta! pregnancy, litter index, fertility index, number of uterine implants). Further, all of the pre-nata! (the diameter of the first embryo) and post-natal (body weights of pups, cranial length, cranial diameter, cranio-sacral length, tail length and, number of days taken for the appearance of fur, eruption of incisors and opening of eyes) developmental parameters assessed were unaltered. There by it concluded that heavy consumption of short or long term BTB has no detrimental effect on libido, ejaculatory competence and male fertility.