Israeli Science: Green Tea Is Good For The Brain?

(Image: Dr. Silvia Mandal, Credit: Israel 21^st Century)

For those of you who actually enjoy drinking the green stuff, fans of green tea may have another reason to celebrate an extra cup or two.

A key ingredient in green tea may not only help keep ones mind healthy, but also may help repair any damages as well.

(Israel 21^st Century) But, according to Dr. Silvia Mandel of the Technion's Eve Topf Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases, the study she led was one of the first to show how the main antioxidant polyphenol of green tea extract, EGCG, actually works when it gets access into the brain. Mandel presented her findings last month in Washington DC to a rapt audience of colleagues at the Fourth International Scientific Symposium on Tea and Human Health. [...]

"We induced Parkinson's in mice and waited until the damage was evident. Then we began to administer the EGCG to the animals. The results showed that the EGCG not only prevented further deterioration, but it helped to regenerate the already damaged neurons in the brain. This phenomenon is called neurorescue or neurorestoration, and we're the first to show that green tea is effective in doing this. In the past, it was thought that once brain cells were damaged, there was no way to repair them. The major question is whether these promising results are reproducible in humans [Mandal said]."

If Mandal's research is proved to be sound for humans, then we may see green tea become a popular past time throughout the western world (as many people in the east already drink green tea according to the article).

Who would have ever thought that some of the world's most notorious diseases (at least in the West) had a chance of becoming easily vanquished by a popular drink?

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