\u201cGreen tea is a popular beverage across the world,\u201d said Professor Yun Bai from the Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China. \u201cThere has been plenty of scientific attention on its use in helping prevent cardiovascular diseases, but now there is emerging evidence that its chemical properties may impact cellular mechanisms in the brain<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n Professor Bai\u2019s team focused on the organic chemical EGCG, (epigallocatechin-3 gallate) a key property of green tea. While EGCG is a known anti-oxidant, the team believed it can also have a beneficial effect against age-related degenerative diseases<\/strong>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe proposed that EGCG can improve cognitive function by impacting the generation of neuron cells, a process known as neurogenesis,\u201d said Bai. \u201cWe focused our research on the hippocampus, the part of the brain which processes information from short-term to long-term memory.\u201d<\/p>\n The team found that EGCG boosts the production of neural progenitor cells, which like stem cells can adapt, or differentiate, into various types of cells. The team then used laboratory mice to discover if this increased cell production gave an advantage to memory or spatial learning.<\/p>\n \u201cWe ran tests on two groups of mice, one which had imbibed EGCG and a control group<\/strong>,\u201d said Bai. \u201cFirst the mice were trained for three days to find a visible platform in their maze. Then they were trained for seven days to find a hidden platform.\u201d<\/p>\n The team found that the EGCG treated mice required less time to find the hidden platform<\/strong>. Overall the results revealed that EGCG enhances learning and memory by improving object recognition and spatial memory.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have shown that the organic chemical EGCG acts directly to increase the production of neural progenitor cells, both in glass tests and in mice<\/strong>,\u201d concluded Bai. \u201cThis helps us to understand the potential for EGCG, and green tea which contains it, to help combat degenerative diseases and memory loss.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" From the Wiley press release via AlphaGalileo: It has long been believed that drinking green tea is good for the memory. Now researchers have discovered how the chemical properties of… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10,4,6],"tags":[42,208,207],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6105"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6105"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6105\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6150,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6105\/revisions\/6150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Aging](\"http:\/\/\/images\/blogpics\/HappySeniors.jpg\")
It has long been believed that drinking green tea is good for the memory. Now researchers have discovered how the chemical properties of China\u2019s favorite drink affect the generation of brain cells, providing benefits for memory and spatial learning.<\/strong> The research is published in Molecular Nutrition & Food Research<\/em>.<\/p>\n