Green tea ‘could prevent dementia’

Regularly drinking green tea could protect the brain against Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia, scientists said.

The ancient Chinese remedy could also play a vital role in protecting the body against cancer, a Newcastle University study, published in academic journal Phytomedicine, suggested.

Led by Ed Okello, the research team wanted to know if the protective properties of green tea – previously shown to be present in the undigested, freshly-brewed form of the drink – are still active once the tea has been digested.

Dr Okello, from the university’s School of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, said: “What was really exciting about this study was that we found when green tea is digested by enzymes in the gut, the resulting chemicals are actually more effective against key triggers of Alzheimer’s development than the undigested form of the tea.

“In addition to this, we also found the digested compounds had anti-cancer properties, significantly slowing down the growth of the tumour cells which we were using in our experiments.”

Digestion is a vital process which provides our bodies with the nutrients we need to survive. But vital nutrients are not necessarily absorbed into the body once food is digested.

“It’s one of the reasons why we have to be so careful when we make claims about the health benefits of various foods and supplements,” Dr Okello said.

“There are certain chemicals we know to be beneficial and we can identify foods which are rich in them but what happens during the digestion process is crucial to whether these foods are actually doing us any good.”

As part of the research, the Newcastle team worked in collaboration with Dr Gordon McDougall of the Plant Products and Food Quality Group at the Scottish Crop Research Institute in Dundee, who developed technology which simulates the human digestive system.

Rebecca Wood, chief executive of the charity Alzheimer’s Research Trust, said: “These results are at a very early stage, so we can’t make the leap of assuming that green tea can protect people from dementia.

“Diet and lifestyle almost certainly plays a part in every person’s Alzheimer’s risk. These factors remain a magnet for research because they could offer relatively inexpensive ways to fight a disease that ruins countless lives.

“We know that the best way to help reduce our risk of developing dementia is to take regular exercise and eat a healthy diet, especially in mid-life. 820,000 people in the UK have dementia, a number forecast to rise as our population ages. Much more research is needed to develop new treatments.”