A study in the December
2016 Journal of Nutrition, Health & Aging showed that drinking tea
frequently is associated with a lower risk of dementia, especially for people
who are genetically predisposed to the disease.
Researchers followed 957
older adults, average age 65, who were part of the Singapore Longitudinal Aging
Study. Of these, 69% drank tea on a frequent basis. After a five-year period,
the researchers found that the tea drinkers had a 50% lower risk of dementia.
This is consistent with earlier findings that showed tea consumers scored
higher on various cognitive tests.
The researchers also
conducted genetic tests on the group and found that tea drinkers who carried
the APOE4 gene variant, a known risk factor for Alzheimer's, were also at a
lower risk compared with people who had APOE4 and did not drink tea.
How tea may help protect
against dementia is not known, but other findings suggest that the
brain-protecting effects of tea drinking could stem from bioactive compounds in
tea leaves, such as flavonoids, which have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant
potential, and L-theanine, which regulates neurotransmitter and brain
activities.
It did not matter what
kind of tea the people drank — black, green, and oolong all had the same
association. The key was regular consumption, according to the scientists. The
more the people drank tea, the stronger the relationship, and the best results
were among those who had tea daily during the entire study period.
(Source: Harvard Health Publication /Harvard Medical
school, July 2017)
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