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Green tea may protect the aging brain

By Amy Norton

Fri Feb 24

People who regularly drink green tea may have a lesser risk of mental decline as they grow older, researchers have found.

Their study, of more than 1,000 Japanese adults in their 70s and beyond, found that the more green tea men and women drank, the lower their odds of having cognitive impairment.

The findings build on evidence from lab experiments showing that certain compounds in green tea may protect brain cells from the damaging processes that mark conditions like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.

But while those studies were carried out in animals and test tubes, the new research appears to be the first to find a lower risk of mental decline among green-tea drinkers, according to the study authors.

They speculate that the possible protective effects of green tea may help explain Japan's lower rate of dementia, particularly Alzheimer's disease, compared with Europe and North America.

Dr. Shinichi Kuriyama and colleagues at Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine report the findings in the current issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

The study included 1,003 adults age 70 and older who completed detailed questionnaires on their diets over the previous month, as well as their overall physical health and lifestyle habits. They also completed a standard test of cognitive functions such as memory, attention and language use.

The researchers found that older adults who drank two or more cups of green tea per day were about half as likely to show cognitive impairment as those who drank three cups or less each week. Men and women who averaged one cup per day fell somewhere in between.

The connection between green tea and mental function persisted when the researchers accounted for overall diet and factors such as smoking and exercise habits.

However, the findings cannot demonstrate a cause-and-effect relationship.

The study was observational, not a controlled experiment, and there may be something about green-tea drinkers that explains the link between the beverage and sharper mental function, Kuriyama told Reuters Health.

For example, healthier, more active individuals may simply drink more green tea -- which, in Japan, is often consumed in social settings.

"We think that the potential protective effects of green tea should be confirmed in further studies," Kuriyama said.

Given the high prevalence and heavy burden of dementia, the researchers conclude, any benefit of drinking green tea could have a "considerable" public health impact.

SOURCE: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, February 2006.

[Ya-ta Boy]

Maybe it does have the brain-saving health benefits the article mentions, but unless I can mainline the stuff, there ain't no way that crap is getting in my blood stream.

[some waygug-in]

Green tea has been shown to have many health benifits.

http://chinesefood.about.com/library/weekly/aa011400a.htm

[igotthisguitar]

This is one of those *ahem* "no-brainers".

Good call all the same. People out there "in the dark" still need to hear about this kind of thing.

One further thread which would fit well under a "HEALTH & WELL-BEING" section.

[JongnoGuru]

Green tea in tea form isn't very exciting. I tried the iced tea (can) version that Lipton's sells. Also not very good. I tried green tea ice cream as well, and was amazed how little I liked that. Perhaps if they'd make green tea cigarettes and green tea soju, they'd have more people hooked.

[The Bobster]

Green tea soju? Great idea. I'd buy it in a heartbeat. (Useta could find beer made with ginaeng in the convenience stoires ...)

[patchy]

Maybe it's got nothing to do with the "special health benefits of green tea", maybe it's because people who are drinking green tea are drinking one less drink of alcohol or soda or something unhealthy like that .. and maybe green tea drinkers are more health-conscious than non-green tea drinkers and more likely to have a healthier lifestyle overall. I don't think boozers or people on a fast food diet drink much green tea.

The green tea that you buy in tea bags aren't that good for you: I've heard they contain lots of caffeine. Besides, too much anti-oxidants is bad for you, as bad as getting too little of them.

[Hollywoodaction]

I guess it would be exciting news...if it was 1997.

The fact drinking green tea reduces the incidence of Alzheimers has been known for nearly 10 years.

[mindmetoo]

[igotthisguitar]

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[The Bobster]

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