Drinking tea regularly could protect you from dementia and other nervous disorders, according to "Medill Reports - Chicago." Tea also eases stomach inflammation and could help prevent the onset of stomach cancer. Although some research links healthy nervous and digestive systems to the consumption of tea, the drink's exact role in disease prevention isn't clearly proven. Other aspects of diet and lifestyle could contribute to the lower rates of illness in tea-drinking populations.
Active Compounds
Polyphenols in tea provide the clearest health benefits by preventing oxidation damage to the body tissues. Tea's antioxidants counteract free radicals that could change the structure of your body's cells and cause carcinogenic damage to cell DNA. Green tea contains more antioxidants than black tea or oolong tea. One hundred milliliters of green tea holds 67.5 mg of beneficial catechins, reports a 2006 study published in the "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition." Black fermented tea yields just 15.5 mg per 100 ml. Drinking green tea offers the best chance of experiencing real health benefits.
Gastric Relief
Drinking green tea regularly could reduce stomach inflammation resulting from infection with the H. pylori bacteria, concluded a study published in the May 2001 edition of the "International Journal of Cancer." Researchers studied residents of Yangzhong City in southeastern China, a region with the world's highest rate of stomach cancer. Some participants suffered from stomach cancer, while another group experienced chronic gastric upset, a precursor to the illness. The study showed that green tea drinkers ran a 48 percent smaller risk of stomach cancer than those who drank little or no green tea. Rates of chronic gastritis dropped by 51 percent among green tea drinkers.
Conflicting Studies
The Yangzhong study based its findings on statistics gained from interviews conducted over six months in 1995 and could have included individuals with undiagnosed stomach cancer in the healthy control group. A similar study in Japan followed 26,311 people living in Miyagi Prefecture for eight years, examining a possible link between green tea drinking and a reduced incidence of stomach cancer. Stomach cancer affected 419 people in the test population, with no statistical relationship to their tea-drinking habits. The study, published in "The New England Journal of Medicine" in 2001, concluded that drinking green tea provided no protection against stomach cancer.
Mental Acuity
Other evidence backs up claims that drinking green tea improves memory and guards against dementia and other mental problems associated with aging. Animal studies indicate that tea's antioxidants could reduce symptoms of Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease by dissolving a protein found in abnormal neural tissue. To investigate the effect of tea on humans, the Tsurgaya Project -- conducted in Sendai City, Japan, in 2002 -- tested the mental acuity of elderly residents and studied their drinking habits. Those who drank more green tea demonstrated sharper memory and better cognitive abilities. Coffee drinkers and black tea drinkers didn't experience the same benefits.
References
- Medill Reports - Chicago; Debate on Health Benefits of Tea Still Brewing; Alexandra Arkin; Feb. 18, 2011
- University of Maryland Medical Center; Green Tea; David Zieve, et al.; September 2010
- "The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition"; Green Tea Consumption and Cognitive Function..."; Shinichi Kuriyama, et al.; February 2006
- "International Journal of Cancer"; Protective Effect of Green Tea..."; Veronica Wendy Setiawan, et al.; May 2001
- "The New England Journal of Medicine"; Green Tea and the Risk of Gastric Cancer in Japan; Yoshitak Tsubono, et al.; March 2001
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