A while back, I wrote a blog about the calories incurred when you add things like sugar or milk to your coffee or tea. After that, my father expressed horror at my drinking four cups of tea by the middle of the afternoon. (Some was decaf, I swear.)
According to a study from the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, all that tea may be benefiting my brain—although I might not be aware of it for a while. The longitudinal study involved almost a thousand Chinese seniors aged 55 years or older, and it found that regular consumption of tea “lowers the risk of cognitive decline by 50 percent,” and for those with a genetic risk for Alzheimer’s, it lowers the risk by as much as 86 percent.
The researchers determined that it took a little less than drinking an 8 oz. cup of your favorite tea once a day to see these kinds of results—although, it’s worth noting that the “results” were a lack of change in cognitive function, so drinking tea before an IQ test probably won’t help your cognitive functioning.
Assistant Professor Feng Lei, the study’s lead researcher, was particularly excited that “a simple and inexpensive lifestyle measure such as daily tea drinking can reduce a person’s risk of developing neurocognitive disorders late in life,” especially because preventive strategies for Alzheimer’s are widely contested.
According to Feng Lei, the benefit is likely due to “the bioactive compounds in tea leaves, such as catechins, theaflavins, thearubigins, and L-theanine,” which may protect the brain from vascular damage and neurodegeneration.
Going back to our tea-and-coffee-additives discussion, adding milk to tea reduces the absorption of catechin, meaning that adding that bit of milk could diminish the benefits.
The researchers are planning to conduct more studies to further understand the impact of Asian diet on cognitive health in aging, while continuing to pay specific attention to the benefits of tea.
Image credit: NUS News
|
Comments rated to be "almost" Good Answers: