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The effects of selenium-containing green tea (SGT; 1.4mgselenium/kg) and China green tea (CGT; 0.13mgselenium/kg) on the in vitro growth of lactobacilli and bifidobacteria were investigated using pure and mixed cultures. SGT had significantly higher phenolic contents (TPC), higher reducing activity, higher DPPH free-radical scavenging activity, and higher ferrous-ion chelating activity (P<0.05–0.0001) than CGT. The addition of aqueous extracts from CGT to Mann-Rogosa-Sharpe (MRS) broth at 10% and 25% (v/v) resulted in small but nonsignificant (P>0.05) increases in the numbers of Lactobacillus rhamnosus and Bifidobacterium breve over the control incubations (without tea). Addition of 10% and 25% of SGT extract resulted in a significant increase (P< 0.05–0.0001) in the number of lactobacilli and bifidobacteria recovered from batch fermentation while CGT did not increase the number of bifidobacteria …