Fwd: [apfn-1] Tea helps memory

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/science/story/0,12996,1336003,00.html

 

 

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Tea helps memory Ian Sample, science correspondentTuesday October 26, 2004The Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/science/story/0,12996,1336003,00.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.

 

 

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