JPH04352726A - Arterial sclerosis-preventing agent and functional food having arterial sclerosis-preventing activity - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a drug and a functional food containing as an active ingredient an extract obtained by extracting safe tea leaves originated from the natural material without a chemical substance dangerous against human bodies and having an arterial sclerosis-preventing activity. CONSTITUTION:A non-poisonous arterial sclerosis useful for preventing or treating the arterial sclerosis contains as an active ingredient a tea extract obtained by extracting tea leaves with water, an alcohol or a mixture thereof as an extraction solvent, preferably a lyophilized product obtained by lyophilizationremoving the solvent from the tea extract. The tea extract is added to a food to provide a functional food capable of lowering not only cholesterol in blood but also fats accumulated on the inner surface of an artery such as the aorta to prevent the generation of the arterial sclerosis. The active ingredient is administered in a dose of approximately 1-2g a day for an adult in the case of powder, and in a dose of 3-7g several times a day in the case of a concentrated solution.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

0001

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an anti-arteriosclerotic agent or functional food containing a water or alcohol extract of tea leaves as an active ingredient.

0002

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In recent years, various adult diseases, particularly heart and brain diseases caused by arteriosclerosis, have become a major cause of death, along with cancer. Arteriosclerosis progresses to a certain extent with age, but recently it is often caused by excessive nutritional intake, and this trend is expected to increase in the future. Therefore, there is a strong need for drugs or foods that prevent arteriosclerosis, and numerous studies and studies to prevent arteriosclerosis are being carried out from various fields.

0003

[Problem to be solved by the invention] However, most of the drugs used to prevent or treat arteriosclerosis are manufactured by chemical synthesis, and even if they are not made from materials from plants or animals. Even if they are derived from natural products, they are often made by using chemicals that are harmful to the human body during the refining process, or by reacting part of the product with chemicals.

On the other hand, tea has been known since ancient times as an elixir for health and prolonging life. The medicinal effects of tea and tea extracts, such as caffeine effects, catechin effects, and vitamin C effects, are well known. Furthermore, it is known that catechins obtained by fractionating tea components suppress an increase in cholesterol (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 156614-1982 and 299224-1999). Of course, the effects of tea depend on these individual effects, but it is thought that the overall effect of all the components contained in tea or tea extract appears as the effect of tea.

[0005] Therefore, the present inventors used highly safe tea leaves derived from natural products as a raw material, and without using chemicals dangerous to the human body, simply extracted the extract with water or alcohol, and investigated its pharmacological properties. As a result of intensive research into its effects, it was discovered that tea extract does not have an effect due to just one component, but that the components act synergistically to exert an excellent anti-arteriosclerosis effect.

[0006]

[Means for Solving the Problems] The present invention has been made based on the above findings, and is an anti-arteriosclerotic agent and functional food characterized by containing tea extract as an active ingredient. .

The tea extract in the present invention is derived from Thea Sinesis L., an evergreen shrub of the Camellia family. Extract the leaves with water, alcohol that is harmless to the human body, or a mixed solution of these. For these, fresh leaves may be used, or dried leaves may be used, or leaves may be fermented or steamed without fermentation, rolled, and dried. You can. Examples of such tea include green tea, sencha, hojicha, oolong tea, and black tea.

[0008] Extraction is carried out, for example, by adding 500 to 5,000 parts by weight of a solvent to 100 parts by weight of dried tea leaves. As the solvent, water, warm water, boiling water, ethanol, or a water content thereof is used, and it is preferable to immerse the dried tea leaves in the solvent or perform extraction under heating for 3 minutes to 10 hours. The obtained extract is concentrated by removing the extraction solvent. Concentration involves reducing the extract to 30wt of tea extract components.
Concentrate to about %. Note that 100 parts by weight of dried leaves corresponds to about 500 parts by weight of fresh leaves. Further, in the case of an alcoholic extract, before and after concentration, unnecessary components may be adsorbed and removed using activated carbon, acid clay, diatomaceous earth, etc., and the concentrated solution may be decolorized.

Furthermore, the concentrated liquid may be evaporated to dryness or freeze-dried to form a powder. In particular, when the extract is treated with activated carbon and freeze-dried, discoloration of the resulting product during storage can be prevented. The resulting concentrate or powder is used as a tea extract in the present invention. These can be used as is, or they can be used as drinks, tablets,
Powders, granules, capsules, etc. may also be used. Furthermore, they may be used after being dissolved in fresh water, or they may be added to raw materials for food and drink products. The amount added is 1
It is recommended to consume 1 to 2 g per day in the case of powder, and 3 to 7 g in the case of concentrated liquid. Examples of food and beverages include beverages such as juices, alcoholic beverages, and beer, processed grain foods such as noodles, bread, rice, and biscuits, pastured products such as sausages, ham, and kamaboko, dairy products such as butter and yogurt, chewing gum, and candy, etc. Sweets, furikake, seasonings, etc. are used, and the necessary amount can be added at an appropriate stage of their production.

[0010] The tea extract in the present invention is extracted for 3 minutes to 10 hours as described above, concentrated to a tea extract concentration of about 30 wt%, or dried and solidified or powdered. It is clearly different from regular tea drinks in that it is extracted over a long period of time and is concentrated. As described above, the anti-arteriosclerosis agent of the present invention is administered orally as a concentrate or in the form of a drink, tablet, powder, granule, capsule, or the like. These preparations are manufactured by adding fillers, binders, disintegrants, flavoring agents, flavoring agents, coloring agents, etc. to tea extract concentrate or powder, depending on the dosage form of the preparation. It is preferable to manufacture the drug using a manufacturing method for pharmaceutical preparations. The dosage for adults is approximately 1 to 2 g per day in the case of powder, and 3 to 7 g in the case of concentrated liquid.
Administer in divided doses several times a day. This dose corresponds to several times the amount when drinking tea normally. Since this extract is a component of tea leaves that is commonly used, it is not toxic, and therefore there is no problem in administering it in doses exceeding the above-mentioned dosage. In this way, not only can arteriosclerosis be prevented, but it is also useful for its treatment.

[0011]Furthermore, the functional food of the present invention is a food or drink to which the tea extract of the present invention is added, as described above, and is useful for the prevention or treatment of arteriosclerosis. In addition, when the obtained solid tea extract is dissolved in clean water and taken with food, it not only reduces cholesterol in the blood, but also reduces the fat content accumulated on the inner surface of arteries such as the aorta, suppressing the accumulation. , can prevent the occurrence of arteriosclerosis.

The present invention will be explained in more detail and specifically. (1) Production of tea extract ■ Production of water extract 50 g of green tea from Shizuoka was steeped in 1000 ml of 70°C warm water for 5 minutes and filtered. The pH of the filtrate was approximately 5.9. This filtrate was immediately lyophilized. In this way, 12 g of a tea extract in the form of a fine green powder was obtained (1 g of the extract contained extracted components of 4.2 g of Sencha green tea).

■ Production of alcoholic extract Dried tea leaves 1
00g in 1000ml of 95% ethanol,
Extraction was carried out for 3 hours at °C. The obtained extract was filtered to remove tea leaves, and then concentrated until the tea leaf extract concentration was about 5 wt%. Add 210ml of fresh water and 85g of activated carbon to the concentrate.
and stirred and mixed at about 60°C for 3 hours. After removing the activated carbon by filtration, ethanol and a portion of the water were removed by evaporation to concentrate the tea component concentration to about 50%, yielding 30 g of a dark brown aqueous solution. Table 1 shows the component analysis values (wt%) of the hot water extract and ethanol extract thus obtained.

[0014]

[Table 1]

(2) Arteriosclerosis prevention test ■ Long-term administration test (i) Test method Five groups of 10 ICR male mice (5 weeks old) were prepared, and the standard composition (wt%) shown in Table 2 was prepared. A diet (Group I) and an atherogenic diet (Groups II to V) were administered. The atherosclerotic diet contains 1.5% cholesterol and 0.5% cholic acid to increase serum cholesterol levels, and 5% linoleic acid to increase serum lipid peroxide levels. Both feeds were stored in a -20°C freezer and fresh feed was given every day in the experiment. A fixed amount of feed was given to each animal individually, and the intake was measured daily.

[0016]

[Table 2]
Standard food Arteriosclerosis forming food Sucrose
63.0
61.2 Casein
20.0
20.0 Agar
2.0
20. coconut oil 10.0
5.0 Linoleic acid
5.0
Vitamin mixture a) 0.8
0.8
salt mixture b)
4.0 4.0
cholesterol
1.
5 Cholic acid

0.5

Vitamin mixture a) is added to feed 1
Per 00g, VA 3000 (IU), VD2 3
00 (IU), VB1HCl0.5 (mg) (hereinafter, mg is shown unless otherwise specified), VB2 0.6
, VB6HCl 0.5, VB12 0.5 (μg)
, VE 1.0, VK3 0.5, calcium pantothenate 2.0, niacin 2.0, p-aminobenzoic acid 2.0, d-biotin 0.01, folic acid 0.0
5. Contains 100 parts of inositol and 150 parts of choline hydrochloride.

Salt mixture b) contains C per 100 g of feed.
aCO3 1200mg (hereinafter, mg is shown unless otherwise specified), K2HPO4 1300, CaHP
O4・2H2O 300, MgSO4・7H2O 4
08, NaCl 672, iron citrate 112, KI
3.2, MnSO4 ・4H2O 20 , ZnCl2
1.0, CuSO4.5H2O 1.2.

[0019] Also, for rehydration, distilled water (Groups I and II, taken ad libitum) and a solution of the tea extract obtained in (1) above in distilled water (Groups III to V)
was administered.

[0020] The intake amount of tea extract in groups III to V is as follows:
The doses were administered per day according to the following criteria. Group III Tea extract 50mg/kg body weight Group IV Tea extract 100mg
/Body weight KgV group Tea extract 200mg
/kg body weight The mice were housed for 14 weeks at a room temperature of 23±1°C, a relative humidity of 55±5%, and an irradiation time of 12 hours (7:00 to 19:00). Meanwhile, the night before the experiment started to collect blood,
They were fasted overnight every two weeks and on the final night.

[0021] Test items include body weight,
Changes in total cholesterol content and lipid peroxide content in serum were measured, and after the test period, serum or organs were collected and various physical and chemical tests were performed on each. Body weight was measured twice a week. b. After fasting every two weeks, 0.2 ml of blood was collected from the eye fundus of the mouse under ether anesthesia, serum samples were prepared, and total cholesterol and lipid peroxide were measured.

c. At the end of the experiment (after 14 weeks), blood was collected in the same manner as described above, the animals were bled to death, and the liver and aorta (thorax and abdomen) were removed and the wet weight of each was measured. After serum separation, the blood was subjected to measurement of total cholesterol, free cholesterol, phospholipids, triglycerides, lipid peroxides, and lecithin cholesterol acyltransferase (LCAT) activity in the serum. A portion of the serum was subjected to heparin-manganese precipitation method [G. R
．． Warnick et al. J. Lipid Res. 1
9, 65 (1978)], high-density lipoprotein (H
After fractionating HDL), total cholesterol in the HDL fraction was measured. The liver was analyzed by Folch et al. [J. Fo
lch, J. Biol. Chem. 226,4
97 (1959)], lipids were extracted with chloroform:methanol (2:1 v/v) and subjected to measurement of total and free cholesterol, triglycerides, and phospholipids. The aorta was lyophilized and then weighed.
Lipids were extracted by immersion in 2 ml of chloroform:methanol (2:1 v/v) and heated at 50° C. for 20 minutes, and the samples were subjected to measurement of total and free cholesterol.

Total and free cholesterol in serum, HDL fraction, liver and aorta were determined using a fluorescent enzyme method [M.
Kunitomo et al., J. Pharmacol. 4
2, 261 (1986)]. LCAT activity was determined by Dieplinger et al. [H. Di
Eplinger et al., Clin. Chim. Act
A 106, 319-324 (1980)] and expressed as the esterification rate (nmol/ml/hr) of free cholesterol in serum. Triglycerides were measured using Triglyceride E Test Wako (Wako Pure Chemical Industries, Ltd.). Phospholipids are described by Yoshida et al. [Yoshida et al.: J. Acta Bioch
em. 88, 463 (1980)]. Lipid peroxidation is described by Yagi [Yagi et al.: Bio
chem. Med. ．． 15, 212 (1976)
] and expressed as the amount of thiobarbituric acid reactive substance (TBA-RS).

The obtained experimental values are expressed as mean ± standard error, and the Student
A t-test of t was applied.

(ii) Test results The measurement results are shown in FIGS. 1 to 5 and Tables 3 and 4.

A. Measurement results during the experiment a. Body Weight As shown in Figure 1, the body weights of the groups fed the arteriosclerotic diet (groups II to V) were suppressed compared to those of the group fed the standard diet (group I). No significant difference was observed between the control group (group II) and the groups administered with tea extract (groups III to V).

b. Time course diagram of serum cholesterol level 2
As shown in Figure 2, the serum total cholesterol level in the control group (group II) maintained a concentration more than twice that of the normal group (group I) two weeks after the start of the experiment. Compared to the serum cholesterol level of group II, which increased in this way, the group III-
In the IV group, the values were low after 6 weeks, and at the 10th week, II
Significant differences were observed between the values of groups I and V and those of group II. However, at the end of the experiment at week 14, no significant difference was observed between Group II and the group administered with green tea extract.

c. Time course of serum lipid peroxide values Figure 3 shows the time course of serum lipid peroxide values measured every two weeks. Lipid peroxide values in the control group (group II) gradually increased as the experimental period progressed. Green tea extract administration group (III~
The lipid peroxide value in group V) showed lower values in a dose-dependent manner after 8 weeks compared to group II. Maximum dose (200mg/Kg
A significant decrease was observed in the values of group V, which was administered with 100 mg/day), from week 2 until the end of the experiment. In addition, the serum lipid peroxide value of the normal group (group I) fed the standard diet was 8.9 throughout the experiment period, which was almost the same level as the value at the beginning of the experiment shown in Figure 3.
The concentration remained at nmol/ml.

B. Changes in serum, aorta and liver lipids at the end of the experiment a. Serum Lipids As shown in Table 3, at the end of the experiment, the lowering effect of the tea extract administration on serum total cholesterol (TC) was mild. Changes in free (FC) and esterified (EC) cholesterol were also suppressed almost similarly to total cholesterol. As a result, there was no difference in the ester ratio (ester cholesterol value/total cholesterol value EC/TC) between the groups. LCAT activity, an enzyme that converts free cholesterol to ester cholesterol, was significantly lower in group II than in group I, but in groups III to V, I
It showed higher activity than Group I. In addition, phospholipids (PL) were also measured in the tea extract administration groups (groups III to V) and in the control group (II).
It was lower than

[0030]

[Table 3]

b. Aortic lipids As shown in Table 4, the aortic cholesterol level in group II increased significantly compared to group I, and the rate of increase in total, free, and ester cholesterol levels was 27, 24, and 1, respectively.
It was 4%. In contrast, tea extract suppressed the increase in cholesterol in a dose-dependent manner. Among them, total (
There were significant differences between Group II and Groups IV and V in TC) and ester type (EC) cholesterol levels.

[0032]

[Table 4]

c. Liver Lipids The cholesterol content in liver lipids is shown in FIG. Part II
The liver cholesterol level of the group (control group) was significantly increased compared to Group I fed the standard diet. However, free cholesterol in groups III and IV treated with tea extract decreased significantly, and total cholesterol and ester cholesterol decreased slightly.

d. Organ Weight As shown in Figure 5, the weight of the liver in the group fed the arteriosclerosis diet increased compared to that in the group fed the standard diet. However, the degree of fatty liver was relatively mild. Furthermore, the increase in spleen weight was slightly suppressed in a dose-dependent manner by administration of the tea extract.

[0035] The above study examined how tea extract affects lipid levels using a mouse arteriosclerosis model. Relatively low doses of tea extract (50~
Remarkable results were obtained in that administration of 200 mg/Kg/day) lowered serum cholesterol, peroxide lipids, and phospholipids, and suppressed the increase in cholesterol in the aorta and liver.

[0036] These results indicate the possibility that the progression of arteriosclerosis can be prevented by drinking green tea. Up to now, it has been reported that catechin, a component of tannin, which is a component of tea extract, has a lipid-lowering effect. However, in addition to catechins, tea leaves also contain flavonoids, vitamin C, magnesium, and other components that have lipid-lowering effects. The serum cholesterol-lowering effect of tea is thought to be based not only on catechins but also on the interaction of several of these tea components.

[0037] In the present invention, under conditions in which mice were fed feed supplemented with 5% linoleic acid to increase serum lipid peroxide,
Tea extract showed significant and dose-dependent inhibition. In addition, in the present invention, biochemical investigation of a mouse arteriosclerosis model revealed that the administration of tea extract prevented the accumulation of cholesterol in the aorta, especially the accumulation of ester-type cholesterol, which is said to increase in areas of arteriosclerosis. This is something worth noting.

The relationship between lipid peroxide and the onset and progression of arteriosclerosis is becoming increasingly clear. In other words, it has been reported that lipid peroxide causes damage to vascular endothelial cells, promotes foam cell transformation of macrophages and smooth muscle cells, and suppresses prostacyclin synthesis in endothelial cells, reducing defense mechanisms against arterial wall damage. ing. Recently, it has been revealed that oxidative modification of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) is deeply involved in the development of atherosclerosis. In fact, it has been proven that LDL directly denatured with lipid peroxide is taken up by macrophages and promotes foam formation. The mechanism of cholesterol accumulation in the mouse aorta obtained by the present invention and its suppression by the tea extract is not clear. However, the suppression of cholesterol accumulation in the artery wall by the tea extract used in the present invention is thought to be caused by the cooperative effect of the tea extract's strong lipid peroxide-lowering effect and cholesterol-lowering effect. Based on the results of this experiment, tea extract, at an amount several times the amount that humans drink on a daily basis, has the effect of lowering excess cholesterol and lipid peroxide in the blood, and also reduces arteriosclerosis in the aortic wall. It has the characteristic of preventing change. ■ Short-term administration study

(i) Test method Eight groups of six rats (7 weeks old) were prepared for each group, and no treatment (
Group I) and Triton (group I), which induces hyperlipidemia.
n WR1339) (Group II), and in addition to Triton, tea extract or crude catechin (Groups III to VIII) was administered to confirm the effect of tea extract on suppressing the increase in serum lipids. did.

[0040] As the crude catechin, commercially available crude catechin (trade name: Polyphenon 100, manufactured by Kurita Kogyo Co., Ltd.) containing 80% by weight or more of catechins was used. Since tannins (catechins) are said to be effective components in tea extract for lipid metabolism, crude catechins were administered for comparison with tea extract. The doses of tea extract and crude catechins were adjusted so that the absolute amounts of catechins (tannins) contained therein were approximately equal in Group III, Group V, and Group VII; The amounts were adjusted to be approximately equal in Group VI and Group VIII.

The treatments for each group are summarized as follows. Group I No treatment Group II Triton administration Group III 〃 + Warm water extract 200mg/Kg x 2 administrations IV
Group 〃 + warm water extract
500mg/Kg x 2 doses Group V
〃 + Alcohol extract 3
00mg/Kg x 2 doses Group VI
〃 + Alcohol extract 750mg/K
g x 2 doses Group VII
+ Crude catechin 80mg/Kg x 2
Group VIII administration 〃 +
Crude catechin 200mg/Kg x 2 administrations During the experiment period, except for the fasting period (18 hours before blood collection), mice and rat chow (manufactured by CLEA Japan Co., Ltd., CE
-2) were given ad libitum.

The test procedure will be explained in more detail. ■Triton is administered once intravenously at 225 mg/kg (injection).
did. (2) Tea extract and crude catechins were orally forcibly administered twice, before Triton administration and 18 hours thereafter (the powder was administered as an aqueous solution containing approximately 50 wt% of tea components). ■Blood was collected from the tail vein 24 hours after Triton administration. ■The rats were fasted for 18 hours before blood sampling. Serum was separated from the collected blood and the following items were measured.

Total cholesterol (TC) Fluorescent enzyme method [M. Kunitomo et al., J. Pharmac
ol. 42, 261 (1986)] Free Cholesterol (FC) Fluorescent Enzyme Method [M. Kunit
Omo et al., J. Pharmacol. 42, 26
1 (1986) ] Phospholipid (PL) Yishida
[Yoshida et al. J. et al. Acta Bio
chem. 88, 463 (1980)] Free fatty acids (FFA) Enzyme colorimetric method [Hideto Kushiro et al., clinical test
Volume 15, 191 (1971)]

(ii)
) The measured values obtained from the test results are expressed as the average value ± standard error of 6 animals in each group, and are shown in Table 5. In addition, Student's t-test was applied to test for significant differences between the measured values with Group II. (* indicates P<0.05, ** indicates <0.01) Table 5 shows that the tea extract and crude catechin suppress the increase in total cholesterol and free fatty acids. In particular, the same table shows that the ethanol extract significantly suppresses the increase in free fatty acids in both high and low doses, and is excellent. In addition, from the same table, tea extracts, whether hot water extracts or ethanol extracts, have a lower catechin content compared to crude catechins, but are superior in terms of measurement results. It turns out that there are many things. Therefore, it is judged that administration of tea extract has a synergistic effect with components other than catechins. In addition, the use of ethanol extract has the same effect as the use of water extract, despite the low caffeine and potassium contents in the extract, and can suppress caffeine and potassium intake to a low level. This is also useful in terms of health.

[0045]

[Table 5]

[0046]

[Example] Next, an example of the present invention will be shown. Example 1 1000 ml of distilled water was heated to 70°±1° C., and 50 g of tea leaves (commercially available) wrapped in double gauze was added thereto and extracted for 5 minutes with stirring. The extract was cooled to 20°C while being externally cooled with ice. The water contained in the tea leaves was collected by squeezing the gauze. This extract was filtered using a vacuum filter to obtain about 820 ml of filtrate. Next, this filtrate was
Freeze by rapidly cooling to ℃ and dehydrate and dry at 0.001 atm to obtain approximately 12 g of powder (moisture content approximately 1-1.5%).
I got it. The yield from leaf tea was 24%.

Example 2 To 20 parts by weight of the freeze-dried powder obtained in Example 1, 6 parts of lactose was added.
5 parts by weight, 10 parts by weight of dextrin, 75 parts by weight of talc and an appropriate amount of water were added to form tablets according to a conventional method.

Example 3 10 g of the freeze-dried powder obtained in Example 1 and 10 g of sucrose,
64 g of starch syrup, 1 g of organic acid, 0.2 g of fragrance, and a small amount of water were mixed and heated and cooled in a conventional manner to produce candy.

Example 4 100 g of dried tea leaves was immersed in 100 ml of 95% ethanol and extracted at 80° C. for 3 hours. The obtained extract was filtered to remove tea leaves, and concentrated until the tea leaf extract concentration was about 5 wt%. 210 ml of fresh water and 85 g of activated carbon were added to the concentrated solution, and the mixture was stirred and mixed at about 60° C. for 3 hours. Then, the activated carbon was filtered off, ethanol and a portion of the water were removed by evaporation, and the mixture was concentrated to a tea component concentration of about 50% to obtain 30 g of a dark brown aqueous solution. Tablets were prepared from this aqueous solution in the same manner as in Example 2.

Example 5 30 ml of water was added to 30 g of the dark brown aqueous solution obtained in Example 4.
A beverage was prepared by adding 20 mg of sucrose, citric acid, and a small amount of essence.

[0051]

Effects of the Invention The present invention provides an anti-arteriosclerotic agent containing a tea extract extracted from tea leaves using water or alcohol as an extraction solvent as an active ingredient, or a functional food to which a tea extract is added. The anti-arteriosclerosis agent or functional food of the present invention is not a single component or a specific fraction of tea extract, but includes a wide range of water-soluble components of the extract, and their mutual synergistic action prevents arteriosclerosis. Can be treated. Alcoholic extracts in particular have low caffeine and potassium contents and are useful in this respect as well.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 shows changes in body weight during the experimental period of mice administered with an arteriosclerotic diet and the tea extract of the present invention and mice administered with a standard diet.

FIG. 2 shows changes in serum total cholesterol levels during the experimental period.

FIG. 3 shows the changes in lipid peroxide during the experimental period.

FIG. 4 shows the cholesterol content in the liver after the end of the experiment.

FIG. 5 shows organ weights after the end of the experiment. * indicates control group (I
P < 0.05, ** P < 0.01, compared to Group I)
*** indicates P<0.001.

Claims (3)

[Claims] [Claim 1] An anti-arteriosclerotic agent whose active ingredient is a tea extract obtained by extracting tea leaves using water, alcohol, or a mixed solution thereof as an extraction solvent. 2. The anti-arteriosclerotic agent according to claim 1, wherein the tea extract is obtained by removing the solvent from an extract obtained by using water, alcohol, or a mixed solution thereof as an extraction solvent, and freeze-drying the extracted solution. [Claim 3] A functional food having an anti-arteriosclerosis effect, which contains a tea extract obtained by extracting tea leaves using water, alcohol, or a mixed solution thereof as an extraction solvent. [Claim 4]
4. The functional food having an anti-arteriosclerosis effect according to claim 3, wherein the tea extract is obtained by removing the solvent from the extract obtained by using water, alcohol, or a mixed solution thereof as an extraction solvent, and freeze-drying the extracted solution.