by A new study links drinking green tea to fewer white matter lesions in the brains of Japanese seniors, potentially providing a level of protection against dementia.
Researchers from institutions across Japan worked together to analyze data from 8,766 volunteers over the age of 65, collected as part of a study conducted between 2016 and 2018.
Self-reported consumption of green tea and coffee was compared with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain scans, which measured total brain volume and the characteristics of five different brain regions.
While these statistics don’t show direct cause and effect – the study only looked at one snapshot in time – adjustments were made for factors such as age, gender, exercise and education level, suggesting there is a solid link between the amount of green tea consumed consumed and the relative volume of damaging lesions in the brain.
“This cross-sectional study found a significant association between lower brain white matter lesions and higher green tea consumption, but not coffee consumption, in older adults without dementia, even after adjusting for confounding factors,” write the researchers in their published article.
On average, those who drank three cups of green tea per day had 3 percent fewer white matter lesions compared to those who drank one cup per day. Those who drank seven to eight cups a day had 6 percent fewer lesions, compared to those who drank one cup a day.
In terms of statistical patterns, the difference is significant. However, green tea consumption did not appear to affect hippocampal volume or total brain volume, which may also indicate cognitive decline.
It is also important to note that green tea consumption did not appear to make a difference in people diagnosed with depression, or with the APOE4 gene variant linked to Alzheimer’s disease.
Given previous studies linking green tea to lower blood pressure, and other studies linking lower blood pressure to a reduced risk of dementia, at least one mechanism responsible for the results could be cardiovascular.
“Additionally, green tea contains less caffeine than coffee, which negatively impacts blood pressure, suggesting that green tea may have a more beneficial effect on white matter lesions,” the researchers wrote.
We’ve previously seen that green tea has been linked to controlling weight levels and killing cancer cells, and it seems we’re not done discovering the potential benefits of this drink – which we know contains antioxidants contains ingredients such as catechins.
The researchers don’t stop there: all participants in the current study were Japanese, which means certain patterns in genetics and lifestyle. Future studies could open up the analysis to a broader group of people.
“Our findings indicate that drinking green tea, especially three or more glasses per day, may help prevent dementia,” the researchers write. “Nevertheless, further prospective longitudinal studies and basic research are needed to validate our results.”
The research was published in npj Science of Food.
