I drink green tea for many reason, not just because it’s good, but also because it has many health benefits. While green tea helps to boost the immune system as well as contains a large amount of anti-oxidants, a new scientific study suggests it has far greater benefits than that. Chinese scientists suggest through a study they have conducted that green tea may be linked to the prevention of memory loss.
What did the study find?
Professor Yun Bai of the Third Military Medical University in Chongqing China stated that while green tea is widely used and has attention drawn to it, because of its benefits to preventing cardiovascular diseases, it hasn’t been until recently that scientist have begun to focus on its impact on the brain. In particular, the study focused on EGCG or epigallocatechin-3 gallate, which is a major ingredient in green tea and also what makes it a powerful anti-oxidant. Professor Yun Bia believed that this same agent could be used against age related degenerative diseases and could also help in the prevention of memory loss. What doctor Yun and his team discovered was that EGCG actually helped to increase cell production in the brain and gave an advantage to memory and spatial learning in mice. They tested this by injecting some mice with EGCG and found that those mice that were injected took less time to find a hidden platform then those who had not been injected. EGCG itself works to increase the production of neural progenitor cells in the brain which in turn help with maintaining brain function and memory.
What does this mean for memory loss?
Some people are born with better memories then others, but the real danger occurs when we age and our memory becomes weakened. We start to forget things that we would rather not and it becomes increasingly difficult to function properly as a result. Alzheimer’s disease is something that concerns me as well as my grandparents. They are getting to the age where they have to start to worry about their memory and do everything they can to protect it so something like this could really change the outlook of those who are already experiencing symptoms or are reaching the age where they start to develop them. If green tea can be used to slow and even reverse the process then it will be a fantastic cure for so many who already suffer from such a debilitating disease. I hope that this study gains more attention and is taken seriously as it could change how we deal with memory loss and treat those already affected. It will be interesting to see if green tea could also help those who have suffered traumatic brain injuries to regain their cognition and memory.
Sources Used
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/09/120905083852.htm
