A new study, released by the National University of Singapore (NUS) on Thursday, reveals that drinking tea, brewed from tea leaves, daily can reduce the risk of dementia. Dementia is a broad category of brain diseases that results into a gradual decrease in the ability to think and remember.
The study stated that tea leaves contain bioactive compounds that can help protect the brain from vascular damage and neurodegeneration, reported The Channel News Asia. It also said that the benefits of tea are not limited to a particular type of tea. As long as the tea is brewed from tea leaves, such as green, black or oolong tea, the drink will help fight the disease.
The study, led by Assistant Professor Feng Lei from NUS' department of psychological medicine, surveyed more than 950 seniors for seven years. It also took into account lifestyles, medical conditions, physical and social activities of those people. At the end, it concluded that regular consumption of tea reduces chances of memory loss by 50 per cent. Moreover, who are genetically at risk of developing Alzheimer's disease may get benefited from tea.
"Despite high-quality drug trials, effective pharmacological therapy for neurocognitive disorders such as dementia remains elusive and current prevention strategies are far from satisfactory," he said, while speaking at a press conference on Thursday.
"Tea is one of the most widely consumed beverages in the world. The data from our study suggests that a simple and inexpensive lifestyle measure such as daily tea drinking can reduce a person's risk of developing neurocognitive disorders in late life," he added.
According to reports, though the study was conducted only on Chinese people, Feng said that the results are likely to remain same for all races. "There are no obvious differences in the way the brain ages across different races and ethnic groups," he said, as reported.
