Green Tea & the Brain

The Japanese have known for ages - green tea is great for your body, mind & soul

If you haven't traded in your morning latte for a grande green tea, you're missing the boat to good health. It's no secret that green tea bolsters the body in many ways. But did you also know the same components of green tea also boost the brain?

Take polyphenols, for instance. These phytochemicals, which give green tea its bitter taste, are powerful antioxidants that have been associated with preventing cancer and heart attacks. Recent research has also shown they may help maintain positive mood states and protect against Parkinson's disease and other brain disorders.

A study from the University of San Francisco found that the EGCg polyphenols in green tea can boost availability of the important brain substance dopamine in the areas where it's needed. Dopamine is a signaling substance in brain circuits that are crucial to creating positive mood states. It is involved in transmitting signals of reward and motivation and in helping muscles move smoothly. Dopamine production goes awry in the brains of Parkinson's patients, leading to the muscle rigidity and tremors associated with the disorder.

Researchers in the study measured levels of dopamine in mice before treating some of them with polyphenols. They then injured the specific neurons linked to Parkinson's disease in all of the mice and measured dopamine levels again. The mice treated with polyphenols appeared to have been protected against toxic elements that may be linked to this disease.

Other studies in animals show that the polyphenols in green tea also help the brain and body maintain a steady supply of their chief fuel, glucose. Polyphenols influence glucose metabolism in part by helping the body regulate sensitivity to the hormone insulin. Compounds in green tea enhance insulin sensitivity, keeping the brain running smoothly on steady levels of glucose.

Tannins are another important set of compounds found in green tea. They too have also been shown to have brain boosting benefits: they may prevent brain damage that occurs after strokes and other brain injuries.

Tannins, like many other beneficial substances in plants, are natural compounds produced by tea leaves in the wild to keep animals from devouring the growing plants.

It now turns out that one of the tannins found in tea leaves, gallotannin, helps the body's own DNA repair system and keeps it working in the brain despite damage that occurs during stroke. Under normal conditions, the DNA repair system in the brain goes into overdrive in the aftermath of stroke, and instead of helping to repair brain cells it causes them to die. But researchers at the University of California at San Francisco found that if they surround injured neurons with the gallotannin found in green tea, it is highly effective in preventing neuron death.

This doesn't necessarily mean that consuming large amounts of green tea would be sufficient to repair brain damage in stroke victims. The amount of gallotannins found in green tea is negligible compared to the large amount used in the study. But researchers hope to harness and synthesize the substance found in green tea and use it to help stroke victims. In the meantime, consuming green tea can help keep your body and brain working at its steady best.

Publication: Psychology Today Magazine Psyched for Success
(Document ID: 2815) by Anne Becker

TANABATA Nutritional Research Green Tea Therapy Specialists
The Kulhay Wellness Clinic & Educational Centre ¨C 72 St. Clair Avenue West Toronto ON M4V-1M7
tanabata.greentea@sympatico.ca TEL 1-519-846-9064 EXT 216
TANABATA Nutritional Research - Copyright 2005

Mar...I had been debating trying drinking green tea when Brent bought home a box of Green Tea from China along with a tea pot...(yes I know there is TONS of green tea drinks everywhere ..anyway)...to read that article you found...especially the part about insulin...interesting...I might give it a long term try now.

; Carol

Hi Mar

Superb article!

I could use a "brain booster" however, I can't get past the taste of Green Tea. lol  Guess I'll be drinking it anyway. lol

Great news for stroke victims if the substance in Green Tea can be harnessed and synthesized. :

Hugs,

Lore