Tea, Antioxidants and Brain Longevity

Tea: The Thinking Human’s Drink

Tea is an astonishing source of antioxidants. Drinking tea can soak your brain in antioxidants, potentially slowing down brain decline. There’s evidence tea can cut the risk of stroke. A study of 6000 Japanese women found that those who drank at least five cups of green tea every day had half as many strokes as women who drank less. Dutch researchers found that older tea drinkers (a couple of cups a day) cut their odds of fatal heart disease in half. That implies that tea helped keep blood vessels healthy, microvessels that feed the brain as well as the heart. Other research shows that tea can thwart dreaded “lipid peroxi­dation” that first step to brain cell destruction.

Drs. Prior and Cao at Tufts have analyzed the antioxi­dant capacity of various types of teas on the market. The first surprise: Samples of black tea leaves on average had about 80 percent more antioxidant capacity than green tea leaves. However, some green tea was almost as high in ORACs as the top black tea. Both black and green tea ranged widely in antioxidant capacity. Some researchers, notably in Japan, declare green tea superior because it has four times more of one specific antioxidant, epigallocate­chin gallate (EGCG), than black tea. But overall, black tea ranks higher in total antioxidant potency, according to Tufts analyses.

The antioxidant capacity also depends on how long you brew tea. Tufts researchers put one black or green teabag in five ounces of boiling water. Within five minutes, about 85 percent of the tea bag’s antioxidant potential was released. The other 15 percent was released after another five minutes of brewing. The finding: A five-ounce cup of black or green tea brewed five minutes provides on aver­age 1246 ORAC units! That’s right up there near spinach and strawberries, proved to delay brain decline in animals.

Inarguably, tea antioxidants do get into your blood­stream. One test by Italian researchers found that drinking a single cup of strong black or green tea revved up antiox­idant activity in the blood by 41 to 48 percent. In this study, green tea produced peak antioxidant activity within thirty minutes, and black tea within fifty minutes. Antioxidants stayed elevated for about an hour and a half before return­ing to normal.

Tea Without Antioxidants

If you’re looking for antioxidants to help your brain, for­get instant (powdered) tea mixes, bottled teas, or herbal teas. They have little or no antioxidant activity, according to Tufts University analyses. Also, real tea with caffeine packs more antioxidant protection than decaffeinated tea. Tufts tests showed brewed decaffeinated tea contained about half the amount of antioxidants as regular brewed tea containing caffeine.

A recent Tufts analysis of twenty different herbal teas found only one with any significant antioxidant activity. Similarly, a few years ago, British researchers found no antioxidants in a couple of dozen herbal teas. Herbal teas may have some specific medicinal values, but you can’t depend on them to help protect your brain or other cells against free radical assaults. If you want brain protection, drink the real stuff.

In other tests of tea’s antioxidant properties, researcher Dr. Andrew Waterhouse at the University of California at Davis found that tea supplied as many antioxidants, known as catechins, as red wine. He found that a glass of red wine has 300 milligrams of catechins; a cup of green tea has 375 milligrams; and a cup of black tea contains 210 milligrams. Dr. Waterhouse says drinking tea provides as much antiox­idant protection as red wine.

Iced tea can have just as much antioxidant value as hot tea if you brew tea bags or tea leaves—and then add ice. Instant ice tea mixes are a waste—totally devoid of antiox­idants, according to Tufts analyses.

BOTTOM LINE: Drinking real tea (brewed from tea bags or leaves) is a quick, easy, calorie-free way to feed your brain antioxidants. Instant powdered teas, bot­tled teas, and herbal teas do not contain any signifi­cant antioxidant activity.

Caution: Adding a couple of teaspoons of milk to a cup of tea may help release antioxidants, according to research by John Weisburger, Ph.D., of the American Health Foun­dation. But adding more milk is detrimental, tending to neutralize tea’s antioxidants.