Drinking tea protects the brain

An ancient Japanese proverb says that a bath refreshes the body, a cup of tea the spirit. For sure a cup of tea improves brain health, as evidenced by a research performed by a team of the National University of Singapore and published a few months ago in the journal Aging (Li et al, 2019).

The researchers recruited 36 people, all healthy and over 60 years of age. Participants were divided into two groups based on how many times they had the habits of drinking tea, namely, less or more than one cup of tea four times a week over the last 25 years. The tea could be green, oolong or black. The study participants were followed for three years. During that period, they were asked to undergo neuropsychological and magnetic resonance imaging tests. What emerged was that those who had drunk a cup of tea at least 4 times a week for several years had better brain organization, protecting brain health. In fact, their brains had better connected regions. This has the consequence that the processing of information can take place much more efficiently. Therefore, the study, although small, has shown that drinking any type of tea helps protect the brain and brain function from age-related decline.