Green tea 'could prevent dementia'

New research has suggested that drinking green tea could prevent individuals from developing dementia and other brain-related illnesses.

Often thought of as the healthiest hot drink there is, green tea is known to be good for the body, but a study in Switzerland has found it might be just as good for the mind.

Published in the journal Psychopharmacology, the report claims green tea can boost brain power and prevent cognitive decline.

Just 12 individuals, all of which were male, were used for the study, some of which were provided with a milk whey-based soft drink containing 27.5 grams of green tea extract

The others, meanwhile, received a placebo in order to act as a control group.

They were then given memory-related tasks and MRI scans to look at how the green tea affected their brain function, particularly the connection between the frontal and parietal brain regions.

The results concluded that those not on the placebo were found to perform better on the tests they were given, while there was also an increase in connectivity within the brain.

Stefan Borgwardt, a researcher and professor from the Psychiatric University Clinics in Switzerland, said: "Our findings suggest that green tea might increase the short-term synaptic plasticity of the brain."

This research could potentially lead to a treatment being developed for disease like Alzheimer's, which is currently incurable.

The report said: "Modeling effective connectivity among frontal and parietal brain regions during working memory processing might help to assess the efficacy of green tea for the treatment of cognitive impairments in neuropsychiatric disorders such as dementia.”

A similar study was conducted by a team of Chinese researchers in 2012, which concluded that green tea can have a positive effect on brain cells and benefit memory and spatial learning.

The Tea Association in the US claims around 160 million in the country consume tea every day, making it the second most popular beverage in the country.

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