A few daily cups of green tea strengthen brain health.

A new study from leading research centers in Japan links the abundant consumption of green tea to a reduction in white matter damage in older adults. This suggests that this miraculous beverage may protect them from dementia.

How Did Scientists Discover This?

Previous research has associated green tea consumption with lower blood pressure, improved cognitive abilities, weight control, and even the destruction of cancer cells.

Now, researchers have analyzed a substantial dataset regarding green tea consumption among individuals aged 65 and older. A total of 8,766 volunteers provided data during surveys conducted between 2016 and 2018.

This information was compared with results from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain, during which scientists assessed its overall condition and examined characteristics of five different regions.

Throughout the study, researchers took into account factors such as age, gender, physical activity, and education level, according to Science Alert.

“The study found a significant connection in older adults without dementia between lower amounts of white matter damage in the brain and higher green tea consumption,” the researchers noted in their report.

On average, those who drank three cups of green tea a day had three percent less white matter damage compared to those who consumed only one cup daily. Among those who drank seven to eight cups a day, the reduction was six percent compared to the one-cup-a-day drinkers.

Interestingly, green tea consumption did not appear to affect the volume of the hippocampus or the overall brain volume. It also had no impact on individuals diagnosed with depression or those carrying the APOE4 gene variant associated with Alzheimer’s disease.

“Green tea contains less caffeine than coffee, which negatively affects blood pressure, so it can be assumed that green tea has a more beneficial effect on white matter condition,” the scientists stated.

The team decided not to stop there. The fact is, all participants in the study were Japanese, meaning they shared similar genetic patterns and lifestyles. In the future, researchers prefer to include a broader sample.

“Our results showed that consuming three cups of green tea a day or more helps prevent dementia. However, further prospective longitudinal and fundamental studies are needed to confirm these results,” the team emphasized.

The findings were published in the journal Science of Food.