Tea heats up your brain connectivity

Posted on Tue, 8 Jul 14

Anyone who has enjoyed a cup of tea could tell you it is often invigorating, but recent research has discovered that this feeling might be because of better brain connectivity and enhanced cognitive function. 

Beyond anecdote, scientific studies have found that tea drinking is consistently associated with improved attention, alertness, and even improved work performance and creativity (1).

In fact, tea drinking may improve cognition and memory and protect your brain from the age related cognitive decline associated with dementia and Alzheimer's diseases (2). Older age people who regularly drink black, oolong or green tea were found to have much better memory and cognitive performance, for example (3).

A recent investigation into exactly how tea is working in the brain discovered something remarkable; acute consumption of green tea improved brain connectivity and resulted in better performance in a memory test (4).  This is the first time tea has been found to enhance neural connections involved in cognition.

Much of the research to date has explored preventative effects of tea on cognitive decline and is not yet know if tea could be used to treat cognitive impairment. But this study does raise the intriguing possibility that tea may be a candidate for treating dementia, an idea that is already being explored with some promising initial results (5).

References:

1. Einöther SJ, Martens VE. Acute effects of tea consumption on attention and mood. Am J Clin Nutr. 2013 Dec;98(6 Suppl):1700S-1708S.

2. Mandel SA, Amit T, Weinreb O, Youdim MB. Understanding the broad-spectrum neuroprotective action profile of green tea polyphenols in aging and neurodegenerative diseases. J Alzheimers Dis. 2011;25(2):187-208.

3. Feng L, Gwee X, Kua EH, Ng TP. Cognitive function and tea consumption in community dwelling older Chinese in Singapore. J Nutr Health Aging. 2010 Jun;14(6):433-8.

4. Schmidt A, Hammann F, Wölnerhanssen B, et al. Green tea extract enhances parieto-frontal connectivity during working memory processing. Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2014 Mar 19. [Epub ahead of print]

5. Park SK, Jung IC, Lee WK, et al. A combination of green tea extract and l-theanine improves memory and attention in subjects with mild cognitive impairment: a double-blind placebo-controlled study. J Med Food. 2011 Apr;14(4):334-43.