4" White Marble Mortar & Pestle

These health benefits of green tea have to be balanced against health drawbacks such those associated with caffeine - decaffeination unfortunately reduces the levels of catechins drastically. The good news is green tea can protect the brain at much lower amounts than necessary for its anti-cancer effects. A Finnish study found three cups of tea a day reduced risk of Parkinson's (Hu, 2007). An American study showed less risk in people that drank two cups or more of tea (Checkoway, 2002). As Dr. Mandel puts it: "I believe that a tea consumer can enjoy the wonderful taste of the different green tea preparations and at the same time get benefit from their biological effects. It is natural, does have access to the brain and is not toxic: in the worse instance, if it doesn't help [it] certainly won't cause any hurt."

Tea may be one of the oldest beverages on the planet, dating perhaps back a half a million years. It is also one of the hottest "new" nutraceuticals, or foods that may protect against disease. This is especially true of green tea, which contains potent anti-oxidant compounds that fight damaging free radicals. Green tea has been touted as fighting cancer, heart disease, and more. Now there is news that green tea can also fight brain damage caused by diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

References

Reznichenko L, Amit T, Youdim MB, Mandel S. "Green tea polyphenol (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate induces neurorescue of long-term serum-deprived PC12 cells and promotes neurite outgrowth." Journal Of Neurochemistry, 2005 Jun;93(5):1157-67.

Thinking Green (Tea, That Is)

Levites Y, Weinreb O, Maor G, Youdim MB, Mandel S. "Green tea polyphenol (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate prevents N-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine-induced dopaminergic neurodegeneration." Journal Of Neurochemistry, 2001 Sep;78(5):1073-82

Recent scientific studies are showing that catechins may slow the damage done by Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. Studies from Israel have shown that one particular catechin called epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) both protects brain cells and stimulates regrowth of nerves (Levites, 2001, Reznichenko, 2005, Avramovich-Tirosh, 2007). "Our recent studies have shown that EGCG not only prevents neuron deterioration in Parkinsonism-induced mice brains, but it helped to regenerate the a-priori damaged neurons in the same brain area," said Dr. Silvia Mandel from the Eve Topf Center of Excellence for Neurodegenerative Diseases Research of the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology.

Hu G, Bidel S, Jousilahti P, Antikainen R, Tuomilehto J. "Coffee and tea consumption and the risk of Parkinson's disease." Movement Disorders, 2007 Nov 15;22(15):2242-8.

Avramovich-Tirosh Y, Reznichenko L, Mit T, Zheng H, Fridkin M, Weinreb O, Mandel S, Youdim MB. "Neurorescue activity, APP regulation and amyloid-beta peptide reduction by novel multi-functional brain permeable iron- chelating- antioxidants, M-30 and green tea polyphenol, EGCG." Current Alzheimer Research, 2007 Sep;4(4):403-11.

Matthew Craver is a freelance writer who has worked with doctors on a variety of different health education articles.

Radak Z, Kumagai S, Taylor AW, Naito H, Goto S. "Effects of exercise on brain function: role of free radicals." Applied Physiology, Nutrition, And Metabolism, 2007 Oct;32(5):942-6.

The bottom line: a cup of tea might not only help your thinking today it may keep you thinking better in the future.

EGCG is present in both brewed green tea and in commercial tea extracts. The amount of catechins in a cup of tea varies from 130-200mg, while tea extract capsules can contain from 35-200mg of EGCG. Like anything else, green tea can be too much of a good thing. "We have found that consuming high doses such the equivalent of more than 6 cups, is toxic to the mice, since the polyphenols become pro-oxidant," says Dr. Mandel, "like high doses of the antioxidant vitamins C and E, and they begin to kill neurons."

Nakagawa T, Yokozawa T. "Direct scavenging of nitric oxide and superoxide by green tea." Food And Chemical Toxicology, 2002 Dec;40(12):1745-50.

Checkoway H, Powers K, Smith-Weller T, Franklin GM, Longstreth WT Jr, Swanson PD. "Parkinson's disease risks associated with cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, and caffeine intake." American Journal Of Epidemiology, 2002 Apr 15;155(8):732-8.
Graham HN. "Green tea composition, consumption, and polyphenol chemistry." Preventive Medicine, 1992 May;21(3):334-50.

Scientists are still finding out how these diseases cause loss of brain function, but free radicals are probably part of this process. Free radicals are molecules produced as a side-effect of your body's aerobic metabolism. Your body produces these as it "burns" sugars and other fuel into energy. Some processes use free radicals as signals or to carry out necessary reactions. If there are too many free radicals, they can attack other compounds that you need. When they attack the DNA in cell nuclei, they may cause cancer. When they attack proteins involved in metabolic pathways in brain cells, they may cause early death of those cells (Radak, 2007).