Drinking two cuppas a day helps protect vital organ as we age, boffins find
DRINKING two cuppas a day helps to protect the memory as we age, scientists have found.
Naturally occurring chemicals in tea, called flavanols, boost brain power and help with recall.
The effect is the same if the tea is taken black or white.
Experts arrived at the findings after studying how flavanols — also found in apples and berries — affected the memory of over 3,500 healthy over-60s.
One group took 500mg a day, the same as in two cuppas, while another had a placebo.
They were given word recall tasks to test their memory during the three-year study.
Final scores in the flavanol group were 10.5 per cent better on average, rising to 16 per cent for those starting with the lowest intake in their overall diet.
Prof Gunter Kuhnle, of the University of Reading, said tea drinking was the “easiest way” to boost flavanol intake.
He said: “Two cups will provide enough for many people.
“If you do drink tea, it doesn’t really matter if you want to have milk — it does not affect the uptake of flavanols.”
Dr Scott Small, of Columbia University in the US, said age-related memory loss varies between people.
He said: “If this is due to differences in flavanols consumption, we’d see even more dramatic improvement in people who replenish flavanols in their 40s and 50s.”
Prof Tara Spires-Jones, of the University of Edinburgh, said other studies had found flavanols may aid the brain by boosting formation of synapses, the connections between neurons.