Study Points to Brain Benefits Among Tea Drinkers

A hot cup of tea can be especially comforting this time of year, and recent research also suggests that regular tea consumption is associated with better brain health. A small study of adults over age 60, published in the scientific journal Aging, suggests that tea drinkers have better organized brain regions compared to people who don’t drink tea. Researchers also noted that better brain structure is associated with healthy cognitive function. This was an observational study, so there was no cause-and-effect relationship established between tea consumption and improved brain health. However, the study does echo the results of many past studies demonstrating a strong connection between tea intake and better health, including improved mood and cardiovascular disease prevention. Researchers found that individuals who consumed oolong tea, green tea, or black tea at least four times a week for about 25 years had brain regions that were interconnected in a more efficient way compared to the brain structure of people who drank little or no tea. The interconnectedness of the brain regions suggests that information can be processed more efficiently. Tea drinkers also appeared to have fewer disruptions to the connections between brain regions. It was not clear what bioactive compounds in tea may be especially helpful for brain health, but that is the next area of study for the researchers, who were based at the National University of Singapore.

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