Green Tea Lady

There are a bevy of articles being posted today about the latest link between good health and green tea. Green tea always makes me happy and now there may be a physiological reason to explain this.

A study conducted in Japan, and published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, concluded that drinking green tea is associated with a lower prevalence of depression in the elderly. Dr. Kaijun Niu, at Thohoku University Graduate School, correlated consumption of green tea and the presence of depression symptoms in 1,058 elderly people. He found that those who drank four or more cups of green tea daily were 44% less likely to show symptoms of depression, and these results were consistent even after factoring gender, economic status, diet, use of antidepressants, and medical history.

Another interesting bit of information is that the effect held true only for green tea. Black and oolong tea, likely due to the fermentation process used in their production, did not have the same depression alleviating effect. More research is necessary, yet they believe it is due to the presence of theanine, an amino acid. Theanine is abundant in green tea yet is greatly reduced in oxidized black and oolong teas. Theanine is known to naturally stimulate the production of dopamine and serotonin in the brain, two chemicals that can affect people’s moods.

Though the study was conducted on the elderly, I hypothesize that if green tea lessens their depression symptoms, it most likely does so for everyone, regardless of age. So, drink up! There’s just no end to the wonderful benefits of drinking green tea!

Breathe deeply,
Laugh with abandon,
Love wholly,
Eat well.

MiLady Carol
www.GreenTeaLady.com
http://miladycarol.com
Dazzling jewelry that reflects sparkling personalities!

Resource articles include: Emax Health and The Herald Sun, among others.