Green tea ingredient may protect against Alzheimer's

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

A study in mice suggests that a key component of green tea may prevent the brain damage associated with Alzheimer's disease.
Green tea has long been promoted for its health-giving benefits. A main component, called epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) has been credited with protecting against cancer, for instance. It is a major antioxidant and now, for the first time, a team at the University of South Florida suggest that EGCG can protect from Alzheimer's disease as well - at least, according to experiments in mice.

They treated the mice, genetically predisposed to develop Alzheimer's disease, for several months with daily injections of a pure form of EGCG. There was a dramatic reduction - up to 54 per cent - of the brain damage linked to the development of the condition. If translated to humans, this would suggest that supplementation with EGCG might protect against Alzheimer's disease. However, the researchers do not believe that green tea itself would necessarily be helpful - for some of the other antioxidant compounds it contains do actually oppose the effect of EGCG. What might be useful is to create green tea extracts that are particularly rich in EGCG or even a variety of the tea itself.

Source
Journal of Neuroscience 21st September 2005

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