Re: Tea helps memory

How was this test conducted? Is there evidence that green tea drinking
societies have slower onset of Alzheimer's Disease? I don't find good
real world evidence for the claim that drinking green tea is beneficial.

Dan

Roman Bystrianyk said:

http://www.healthsentinel.com/news.php?event=news_print_list_item&id=354

Ian Sample, "Tea helps memory", Guardian, October 26, 2004,
Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1335893,00.html

Scientists have come up with the ideal riposte for those accused of
taking too many tea breaks: tea keeps your brain healthy, they say.
Tests on green and black tea suggest that regular tea drinking could
help prevent age-related memory loss and keep dementias such as
Alzheimer's disease at bay.

Ed Okello and colleagues at the Medicinal Plant Research Centre at
Newcastle University discovered that tea blocks brain enzymes that
destroy acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter that carries messages
between brain cells.

Though scientists do not fully understand the causes of Alzheimer's
disease, those affected have extremely low levels of acetylcholine in
their brains. Drugs to treat the condition work by boosting the
neurotransmitter back to normal levels. Normal age-related memory loss
is also linked to a loss of acetylcholine.

By halting the destruction of acetylcholine - a natural and necessary
process in healthy brains - chemicals in tea could prevent levels of
the neurotransmitter dropping too low.

Black tea is derived from the same plant as green tea, but is
fermented. Both types blocked two brain enzymes, while green tea also
blocked the effects of a third. "The beneficial effects of green tea
lasted for a week, but with black tea, the effect wore off after a
day," said Dr Okello, whose study appears in the journal Phytotherapy
Research.

"If this works in the body like it does in the lab, anything like five
to 10 cups of tea a day would help the levels of acetylcholine if you
have too little," said Dr Okello.