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Added: 11/6/2009
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Drinking many cups of green tea a day is linked to a lower incidence of depressive symptoms in elderly people, according to a Japanese study.
Published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the study focused on 1,058 elderly Japanese individuals aged 70 years plus, with a prevalence of mild and severe depressive symptoms in the study population being 34% and 20% respectively.
The authors maintain that only a few studies have investigated the relationship between green tea consumption and mental health, while there appears to be fewer studies assessing the relationship between green tea drinking and depressive symptoms.
According to the team led by Atsushi Hozawa, depression in the elderly is highly prevalent and can increase the risk of medical illnesses, worsen the outcome of other medical illnesses and may increase mortality.
The World Health Organization (WHO) forecasts that within 20 years more people will be affected by depression than any other health problem. WHO ranks depression as the leading cause of disability worldwide, with around 120 million people affected.
The findings show that the occurrence of depressive symptoms was 44% lower for participants who drank more than four cups of green tea per day compared to those who drank less than one, after results were adjusted for factors such as age, sex, disease history, BMI, alcohol consumption, cigarette smoking, diet and other factors.
The authors state, however, that their study is rather limited in scale and a larger population study that uses a standardized comprehensive structured diagnostic interview is required to confirm the effect of green tea consumption on depressive symptoms.
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition Published online ahead of print.
