Green Tea And Aging:  Powerful New Way To Prevent Functional Disability

Getting older sometimes causes you to experience a decline in daily tasks that once were very easy.

This is termed functional disability, or a condition that reduces your ability to perform everyday activities with ease.

This condition can affect anyone, but is mainly afflicted the elderly population.

Some forms of functional disability can include:

• Stroke

• Cognitive impairment (depression, Alzheimer’s, etc)

• Osteoporosis

• And frailty

People 65 and older have an increased risk for developing functional disability compared to their younger counterparts.

However, Japanese researchers aimed to see if green tea consumption and decreased the risk for developing functional disability.

Let me explain…

Green Tea

Tea consumption has steadily increased over the decades.

Next to water, tea is the most widely consumed beverage in the world.

The ancient Chinese, Japanese and other cultures, hold the belief that green tea is a “health drink”.

Green tea contains powerful antioxidants which research shows, can benefit and improve certain conditions including heart disease, depression and many others.

Green tea contains a powerful polyphenol, ECGC, which has been shown to have anti-atherosclerotic effects in your body.

ECGC can potentially reduce damage and inflammation which, according to some studies, is caused by oxidative stress.

Green tea consumption has the potential to reduce your risk for dementia, one of the classic signs of functional disability.

The green tea polyphenols have also been shown to increase leg strength, which could reduce frailty associated with old age.

These powerful antioxidants, according to some studies, can reduce damage from free radicals, improve heart health, lower stress levels and even improve cognitive function.

Now researchers have shown that increased green tea consumption could decrease your risk for functional disability.

Green Tea and Functional Disability

Researchers in Japan wanted to see if green tea consumption was associated with reducing functional disability in the elderly.

They recruited 13,988 subjects who were 65 years or older.

The participants answered a questionnaire regarding daily tea consumption.

The researchers found that participants, who consumed 5 cups or more of tea per day, were less likely to suffer functional disability.

Comparatively, people who drank the least amount of tea, showed a significant risk for functional disability.

The researchers concluded there was a significant association between green tea consumption and risk for developing some form of functional disability.

The researchers indicated that more studies are needed to confirm their findings, but that these results could provide a new health benefit from green tea consumption.

The Amazing Power of Green Tea

Aging can be associated with a loss of function (performing everyday activities) to even the simplest concept of getting dressing in the morning.

In most cases, this is termed functional disability and usually affects the elderly population.

The polyphenols found in green tea, research suggest, could decrease your risk for functional disability, which could improve your quality of life.

Green tea is also linked to improvements in heart health, depression and even for increasing leg strength.

However, the reductions in functional disability were best observed with a very high tea consumption (> 5 cups per day).

Including a cup of green tea during the course of your day, could be a cost effective way to improve your health, wellbeing and longevity.


NEXT: An Easy Way To Include The Power Of Green Tea >>

References:

Tomata, Y.  Katizaki, M.  Nakaya, N.  Tsuboya, T.  Sone, T.  Kuriyama, S.  Hozawa, A.  Tsuji, I.  Green tea consumption and the risk of incident functional disability in elderly Japanese:  the Ohsaki Cohort 2006 Study.  Am J Clin Nutr.  2013. doi: 10.3945/ajcn.111.023200.