Can Tea Prevent Alzheimer's Disease?

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Article Title:

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Can Tea Prevent Alzheimer's Disease?

Article Description:

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One of the most frightening health concerns facing the aging is

Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's disease is a progressive brain

disorder that gradually destroys a person's memory and ability

to learn, reason, make judgments, communicate and carry out daily

activities.

Additional Article Information:

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850 Words; formatted to 65 Characters per Line

Distribution Date and Time: 2007-01-15 16:19:00

Written By: Jon M. Stout

Copyright: 2007

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Can Tea Prevent Alzheimer's Disease?

Copyright © 2007 Jon M. Stout

Golden Moon Tea

http://www.GoldenMoonTea.com

One of the most frightening health concerns facing the aging is

Alzheimer's disease. Alzheimer's disease is a progressive brain

disorder that gradually destroys a person's memory and ability

to learn, reason, make judgments, communicate and carry out daily

activities. As Alzheimer's progresses, victims sometimes

experience changes in personality and behavior, such as anxiety,

suspiciousness or agitation. In addition, some patients have

hallucinations or delusions.

Doctors don't fully understand what causes Alzheimer's, though

much research is ongoing. Once diagnosed, the disease may

progress very slowly or very quickly. The first functions to be

affected are memory and thinking, but as the disease progresses,

cells die in other parts of the brain, too. Eventually the

patient requires complete care. Though most Alzheimer's patients

die from other health issues, Alzheimer's itself can be fatal,

once enough brain function is lost.

As with most serious illnesses, research focuses on two areas;

prevention and treatment. Today, though there is no cure for the

disease, there are treatments available that can improve

cognitive function, at least for some period of time. In terms of

prevention, since little is known about what causes the disease,

we also don't know a lot about how to prevent it.

However, we are learning the benefit of the anti-oxidants in tea

in both the prevention and treatment of Alzheimer's. In the past

few years, lots of research has shown tea's anti-oxidants to be

powerful fighters of aging and disease. Green tea, in particular,

has been shown to prevent heart disease and several forms of

cancer.

Anti-oxidants are important because they fight free radicals in

our bodies. Free radicals are created as we process the food we

eat into energy. Free radicals have the capacity to damage our

cells and our DNA if we don't keep them in check. Anti-oxidants

rid our bodies of the free radicals, protecting it from the

damage they can cause.

Fruits and vegetables are full of anti-oxidants, as are coffee,

dark chocolate and red wine. In addition, tea is a great source

of anti-oxidants. For prevention and treatment of most diseases,

green tea has been found to be more protective than black tea,

because the anti-oxidants in green tea are in a more natural

state than those in black tea. This is because black tea is

fermented during processing while green tea is not.

However, in the research surrounding Alzheimer's there seems to

be no difference between using black tea and green tea, because

the particular anti-oxidant most effective against Alzheimer's

is not altered by the fermentation process, making both teas

equal for this purpose.

One study reported by the UK Tea Council showed drinking tea to

be an effective way to prevent and even treat Alzheimer's. The

study concluded that the anti-oxidants had a neuro protective

effect on some of the brain chemicals that become toxic to brain

cells during Alzheimer's.

While far more research is required, this is promising news. If

tea can protect the brain, it may show potential in both

prevention and treatment of Alzheimer's. In terms of protection,

it is theorized that drinking tea may have the ability to prevent

brain chemicals from turning toxic and killing brain cells.

As far as treatment goes, tea's ability to protect brain cells

from toxic chemicals may slow the progression of Alzheimer's. It

is far too soon to predict if tea's anti-oxidants may someday

lead to a cure for Alzheimer's, but the news does represent some

hope in the face of a disease whose cure has eluded us so far.

Green Tea and Aging

In addition to the research noted above, it's important to

consider the overall effect of green tea on the aging process.

Green tea has been shown to slow down the aging process and

protect our bodies from many different types of disease,

including cardiovascular disease.

Why is this important in the fight against Alzheimer's?

While scientists don't have a full understanding of the causes

of Alzheimer's disease, they do have some understanding of at

least some of the risk factors for this disease. Two important

risk factors for Alzheimer's are:

Age - The greatest known risk factor for Alzheimer's is

increasing age. Few people contract the disease under the age of

65. The risk for developing Alzheimer's doubles every five years

over the age of 65. After age 85, the risk of Alzheimer's is

nearly 50%.

Heart Health – Any disease that decreases the health of the heart

decreases the health of the brain. Cardiovascular problems such

as high blood pressure and atherosclerosis have been shown to be

linked to the development of Alzheimer's. This is thought to

because the damage to the arteries and veins caused by these

conditions reduces the amount and quality of blood flow to the

brain.

Since we know that green tea helps prevent heart disease and

premature aging, it stands to reason that adding green tea to

your diet can also, in the long run, prevent Alzheimer's. While

we can't actually prevent ourselves from getting older, we can

minimize the damage of aging by filling our bodies with

anti-oxidants like those found in green tea.

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Jon M. Stout is the Chairman of the Golden Moon Tea Company.

Golden Moon Tea carefully selects the finest rare and orthodox

teas, which are processed slowly and handcrafted with extreme

care. At their website, you can learn more about their current

tea offerings, including their exceptional green tea

(http://www.goldenmoontea.com/greentea), white tea, black

tea, oolong tea (also known as wu-long and wu long tea -

http://www.goldenmoontea.com/wu-long) and chai. Visit

http://www.goldenmoontea.com for all details concerning

the Golden Moon Tea Company's fine line of teas.