"
Background: Laboratory research suggests that tea has potential
neurocognitive protective effects, but this is not established
in humans.
Objective: We aimed to examine the relation between tea intake
and cognitive impairment and decline.
Design: Among community-living Chinese adults aged
55 y in the
Singapore Longitudinal Ageing Studies cohort, we measured tea
consumption at baseline and administered the Mini-Mental State
Examination (MMSE) at baseline and 1–2 y later. Cognitive
impairment was defined as an MMSE score
23 and cognitive decline
as a drop in MMSE score of
1 point. We performed cross-sectional
analysis of baseline data from 2501 participants and longitudinal
analysis of data from 1438 cognitively intact participants.
Odds ratios (ORs) of association were calculated in logistic
regression models that adjusted for potential confounders.
Results: Total tea intake was significantly associated with
a lower prevalence of cognitive impairment, independent of other
risk factors. Compared with the ORs for rare or no tea intake,
the ORs for low, medium, and high levels of tea intake were
0.56 (95% CI: 0.40, 0.78), 0.45 (95% CI: 0.27, 0.72), and 0.37
(95% CI: 0.14, 0.98), respectively (
P for trend < 0.001).
For cognitive decline, the corresponding ORs were 0.74 (95%
CI: 0.54, 1.00), 0.78 (95% CI: 0.55, 1.11), and 0.57 (95% CI:
0.32, 1.03), respectively (
P for trend = 0.042). These effects
were most evident for black (fermented) and oolong (semi-fermented)
teas, the predominant types consumed by this population. In
contrast, no association between coffee intake and cognitive
status was found.
Conclusion: Regular tea consumption was associated with lower
risks of cognitive impairment and decline."
http://www.ajcn.org/...stract/88/1/224Interesting that black tea was better.