MRI scan – unexpected discovery thanks to drinking green tea

NLDO – Anh Thu

Scientists have examined the impact of eating patterns on brain decline and found something special in people who often drink green tea.

A recent study published in the scientific journal American Journal of Clinical Nutrition shows that the green Mediterranean diet – including the healthy drink green tea – uniquely affects the brain.

Green tea brings many health benefits – photo: Nguyen Duc Duy.

According to Science Alert, the group of authors led by epidemiologist Iris Shai from Ben-Gurion University (Israel) said that their previous observational study found that the green Mediterranean diet – with more plants and less meat – was associated with less brain wear.

So, they delved deeper into the mechanism leading to this unexpected benefit.

The data was collected through magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brains of 224 participants, who were about 51 years old on average and had been diagnosed with obesity or high blood fat levels.

Over 18 months, the volunteers were divided into three groups and placed on a Mediterranean, green Mediterranean, or standard healthy diet.

The authors found that people who ate a green Mediterranean diet had lower blood sugar levels than the other groups and experienced slower brain shrinkage and neuron death due to aging than ordinary people.

Analyzing more specifically the foods and drinks in this diet, green tea and Mankai duckweed smoothie stood out: People who consumed one or both of these drinks had the “slowest aging” brains of all.