Illustration: Tea is not only for relaxation. Its medical property reaches even to our most important organ, brain. (Image via Thrillist)

Love your brain? Love your tea: Study

Alfonsus Adi Putra
Business & Industry
Medical and Health
Sep 13, 2019
22679
There are ways to keep our brain healthy such as no smoking, keep exercising, thinking positively, and many more. But, according to a new study, actually, while you are enjoying your cup of tea at the noon with a biscuit or whatsoever, you are preserving your brain!

The study, conducted by the Department of Psychological Medicine at the National University of Singapore (NUS) Yong Loo Lin and collaborating with the University of Essex and University of Cambridge, compared people who loved to drink tea and those who do not drink tea that much. The research which took three years (2015 - 2018) was later published in the June 2019 edition of the scientific journal “Aging”.

The study involved 36 adults with ages ranging from 60 and above. After recording data regarding their health and lifestyle, these participants underwent Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and neuropsychological tests.

Looking at the result of the MRI and cognitive tests, the researcher pointed out that the participants who drank various kinds of tea (green, oolong, or black) for at least 25 years showed more organized brain regions.

“As an analogy, the brain can be pictured as a traffic system. Brain regions are the destinations while the connections between these brain regions are the road. If the brain regions are well-structured, the processing of information can be executed more smoothly,” explained Assistant Professor Feng Lei, the leader of the study.

This study was not the first to show the connection between tea-drinking activity and the improvement of cognitive function in the brain. In his previous study, Feng pointed out that drinking tea regularly could reduce the risk of cognitive impairment as much as 50% in elderly age. Preventing Alzheimer’s, tea could help as much as 86%.

Turns out, preserving your brain is as easy as dipping your teabag.

Source: https://bit.ly/2mePwBM

Medical , Health , Tea , Brain , Cognitive , Study