“Edible microbeads” that could be added to bubble teas and deserts could be on the horizon to help people with weight loss—much less invasively than current treatments.
Researchers have developed these microbeads made from tea polyphenols, vitamin E and seaweed that, when consumed, bind to fats in the gastrointestinal tract.
Preliminary test results from rats fed with high-fat diets suggest this creative and more natural approach to weight loss may be safer and more accessible than surgery or pharmaceuticals.
“Losing weight can help some people prevent long-term health issues like diabetes and heart disease,” said author Yue Wu of Sichuan University in a statement.
Wu presented her team’s results at the ACS Fall 2025 Digital Meeting of the American Chemical Society.
“Our microbeads work directly in the gut to block fat absorption in a noninvasive and gentle way.”
Young woman holding and drinking tapioca pearl bubble milk tea with glass straw.
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Some pharmaceuticals like orlistat inhibit certain gastric enzymes from breaking down dietary fats, leading to less fat being absorbed by the body, the researchers explained. While orlistat is a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved medication considered effective for weight loss, some research suggests it can cause side effects including liver and kidney damage.
With this in mind, Wu and her colleagues set out to target the fat absorption process with their own weight-loss intervention but without negative side effects.
“We want to develop something that works with how people normally eat and live,” she explained.
The team created tiny plant-based beads that “spontaneously form” through a series of chemical bonds between the green tea polyphenols and vitamin E.
These structures, they explained, can form chemical tethers to fat droplets and serve as the fat-binding core of the microbeads. They then coated the spheres in a natural polymer derived from seaweed to protect them from the acidic environment of the stomach.
Once ingested, the protective polymer coating expands in response to the acidic pH and the green tea polyphenols and vitamin E compounds bind to and trap partially digested fats in the intestine.
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While the microbeads themselves are nearly flavorless, the researchers said they foresee them being easily integrated into people’s diets.
This could be as simple as being made into small tapioca or boba-sized balls and adding them into desserts and bubble tea, enhancing common food styles that already exist.
In the study, the researchers put the rats into three groups (eight rats per group): those fed a high-fat diet (60 percent fats) either with or without microbeads and those fed a normal diet (10 percent fats) for 30 days.
Rats fed the high-fat diet and microbeads lost 17 percent of their total body weight, while rats in the other groups didn’t lose weight, they discovered.
They had reduced fat tissue and less liver damage compared to rats fed the high-fat and normal diets without microbeads.
They also excreted more fat in their feces compared to rats not given microbeads.
The extra fat in the rats’ feces had no apparent ill effects on the animals’ health, according to the researchers.
Meanwhile, the eight rats on high-fat diets that consumed microbeads showed similar intestinal fat excretion, but without the gastrointestinal side effects the researchers observed with a fourth group of rats they treated with orlistat.
“We need to see data in humans before any real conclusions can be drawn. Data in rats is interesting but one cannot assume findings will replicate. In addition, one must look at safety in human trials,” cardiometabolic medicine professor Naveed Sattar of University of Glasgow in Scotland, who was not involved in the research, told Newsweek.
“But as a concept, it’s interesting and it’s good to see researchers thinking of different innovations to help achieve sustained, safe weight loss.”
“This rat study used extremely high levels of fat in the diet at 60 percent supplying over 80 percent of their energy intake. Human diets contain 35-40 percent energy from fat,” professor emeritus of nutrition and dietetics of King’s College London Tom Sanders, also not involved in the research, explained to Newsweek.
“While this rat study showed some malabsorption fat and weight loss with the microbeads as expected; the researchers did not check whether the microbeads interfered with the absorption of fat soluble vitamins (this would be expected).
“This approach of blocking fat absorption has been tried before and the big problem is ‘anal leakage’ of the unabsorbed fat in humans.”
Plant-based microbeads in test cylinder.
Yue Wu/American Chemical Society
Wu’s team has now started working with a biotechnology company to manufacture the plant-based beads.
“All the ingredients are food grade and FDA-approved, and their production can be easily scaled up,” co-author of the presentation and Sichuan University professor Yunxiang He said in a statement.
They have also initiated a human clinical trial in collaboration with the West China Hospital of Sichuan University.
“This represents a major step toward clinical translation of our polyphenol-based microbeads, following our foundational results,” said Wu. “We have officially enrolled 26 participants in our investigator-initiated trial, and we anticipate that preliminary data may become available within the next year.”
Newsweek has reached out to the authors for additional comment.
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Reference
Wu, Y., He, Y., & Guo, J. (2025, August 22). Oral polyphenol-based microbeads with synergistic demulsification and fat locking for obesity treatment. ACS Fall 2025. https://acs.digitellinc.com/live/35/session/562152