A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition suggests that green tea could help to make ageing a healthy process, too. Green tea is a product made from the Camellia sinensis plant.
It can be prepared as a beverage, which can have some health effects. Or an “extract” can be made from the leaves to use as medicine. Green tea is used to improve mental alertness and thinking.
Researchers from the Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine in Japan, looked at the green tea-drinking habits of 14,000 older adults, ages 65 and older, for a three-year period.
The researchers found that the ones who drank the most green tea over these tidy period were also the ones who functioned best in old age — meaning they did not have trouble with basic activities like bathing or dressing.
Seven per cent of people who drank at least five cups of green tea a day had basic functioning problems, compared with 13 per cent of people who drank a cup or less of green tea a day.
“Green tea consumption is significantly associated with a lower risk of incident functional disability, even after adjustment for possible confounding factors,” researchers concluded in the study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Anti-aging and antiinflammatory effects of green tea may delay signs of skin ageing, such as sun damage, expression lines and wrinkles, according to a study published in the journal of Collegium Anthropologicum.
Also, catechins, in green tea may also help prevent skin cancer due to sun exposure, notes Pearl E. Grimes, author of the book “Aesthetics and Cosmetic Surgery for Darker Skin Types.”