Green Tea May Protect Aging Brains, New Study Suggests

A study conducted by the Graduate School of Medical Sciences at Kanazawa University has discovered that regular consumption of green tea may be beneficial for brain health in older adults. The researchers found that three or more glasses of green tea per day are associated with fewer cerebral white matter lesions, which are associated with cognitive decline and conditions such as Alzheimer's disease.

The results have been drawn from the Japan Prospective Studies Collaboration for Ageing and Dementia across various research centres in the country. Based on MRI data, the team considered the effect of green tea and coffee consumption on brain structure and white matter lesions, hippocampal volume, and total brain size.

While both green tea and coffee are known for their neuroprotective properties, coffee showed no significant effect on brain health in this study. The results, published in the journal npj Science of Food, suggest that incorporating green tea into daily diets could offer long-term benefits for older adults.

"This cross-sectional study found a significant association between lower cerebral 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 paper.

"Our findings indicate that drinking green tea, especially three or more glasses per day, may help prevent dementia," write the researchers. "Nevertheless, further prospective longitudinal studies and basic research are needed to validate our results."