Green Tea May Help Ward Off Dementia, and Protect Against Cancer

More benefits from Green Tea!

Green tea could help ward off dementia, scientists show

It could also play a vital role in protecting the body against cancer, the study in the journal Phytomedicine suggests.

Led by Ed Okello, the Newcastle University team wanted to know if the protective properties known to be present in the freshly brewed form are still active once the tea has been digested.

Dr Okello, from the university’s School of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, said: ‘What was really exciting about this study was that we found when green tea is digested by enzymes in the gut, the resulting chemicals are actually more effective against key triggers of Alzheimer’s development than the undigested form of the tea.’

‘In addition to this, we also found the digested compounds had anti-cancer properties, significantly slowing down the growth of the tumour cells which we were using in our experiments.’

Digestion is a vital process which provides our bodies with the nutrients we need to survive. But nutrients are not necessarily absorbed into the body once food is digested. “It’s one of the reasons why we have to be so careful when we make claims about the health benefits of various foods and supplements,” Okello said.

‘There are certain chemicals we know to be beneficial and we can identify foods which are rich in them but what happens during the digestion process is crucial to whether these foods are actually doing us any good.’

As part of the research, the Newcastle team worked in collaboration with Dr Gordon McDougall of the Plant Products and Food Quality Group at the Scottish Crop Research Institute in Dundee, who developed technology which simulates the human digestive system.”