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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 questionnairs on their diets over
the
previous month, as well as their overall physical
health
and lifstyle 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. For example, healthier, more
active individuals may simply drink more green tea.