Tea’s brain health benefit link gets more support

Both green and black tea could protect against age-related diseases like Alzheimer's, says a new study, adding yet more support to the benefits of tea extract on brain health.

“We looked at the protective effects of two tea extracts and their main constituents, called catechins, on dying nerve cells,” explained senior author Rémi Quirion from Douglas Hospital Research Centre, Quebec.

The research, published in the European Journal of Neuroscience (Vol. 23, pp. 55-64), claims to be the first to show beneficial effects of both green and black tea on cell cultures treated with amyloid proteins, thought to be a cause of Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia and currently affects over 13 million people worldwide.

The researchers used rat hippocampal cells as models for human cells, and found that addition of the beta-amyloid protein was toxic and killed the cells.