Green tea has been praised for the many health benefits it possesses. Unlike other teas, green tea is made from unoxidized leaves and possess antioxidants, called catechins, which help prevent cell damage. Also, green tea has been shown to improve blood flow, lower cholesterol, maintain blood sugar, and possibly help increase and change an individual’s metabolism. Now, new research suggests the beverage can enhance our brain's mental functions, particularly the working memory.
Published in the journal Psychopharmacology, researchers from the University Hospital of Basel in Switzerland, investigated whether the intake of green tea extract modifies effective brain connectivity during working memory processing and whether the connectivity factors are related to task performance.
The research team recruited 12 healthy male participants with the average age of 24.1 years. The participants were given either 250 or 500 milliliter whey-based soft drink containing 12.75g and 27.5g of green tea extract, respectively while others were given the same whey-based soft drink, but without the green tea extract. None of the participants were aware which drink they were given.
The team then examined how this affected the brain activity of the men as they performed a series of working memory tasks using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The MRI showed increased connectivity between the right superior parietal lobe and the frontal cortex of the brain. These neuronal findings positively correlate with improvement in task performance of the participants.
“Our findings suggest that green tea might increase the short-term synaptic plasticity of the brain,” said Stefan Borgwardt, researcher, and professor from the Psychiatric University Clinics in Switzerland, in the press release.
There were limitations to the study. The experimenters noted that there was no significant effect found between green tea consumption and task performance. Also, they added that if the participants drank a pure green tea extract instead of a soft drink containing green tea extract, they would have avoided the effects of other components, such as caffeine, which may have had an impact on the participants' cognitive performance.
Additional Resource:
Green tea extract enhances parieto-frontal connectivity during working memory processing
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