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Green Tea
and Parkinson's Disease
According to a recent study from Singapore, drinking black tea may be
able to lower your risk of getting Parkinson’s disease. Parkinson’s is a
chronic, progressive movement disorder that causes symptoms such as
tremor, slowness of movements, limb stiffness, and difficulties with
balance and coordination. No one knows for sure what causes the disease,
which currently has no cure and affects about 1 million people in the
U.S.
However researchers at Singapore’s Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine and National
Neuroscience Institute have recently found that drinking just 6 oz. of black tea
per day may lower the risk of developing Parkinson’s by over 70 percent. Data
from the 12-year Singapore Chinese Health Study, which tracked the health and
habits of more than 63,000 men and women, found that the more black tea they
drank, the lower their risk of developing the disease. This was also true
concerning caffeine intake: taking in more decreased the risk.
Even though green tea contains some caffeine, it does not appear to affect the
Parkinson’s disease risk. The researchers concluded that the protective effect
of black tea against Parkinson’s disease must have to do with some other
ingredient in the tea, possibly its flavonoids. They speculated that the
flavonoids, with their anti-inflammatory effects on the cardiovascular system,
may help ward off Parkinson’s by increasing circulation to the brain.
Tan LC, Koh WP, Yuan JM, et al. Differential effects of black versus green tea
on risk of Parkinson’s disease in the Singapore Chinese Health Study. Am J
Epidemiol 2008;167(5):553-60.
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Nadine Taylor, M.S., R.D. presents
GreenTeaLibrary.com, the most
comprehensive collection of scientific information describing the
health benefits of green tea.
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