Drinking green tea may ward off functional disability
People who include green tea in their daily diet may benefit from a reduced risk of functional disability as they get older, new research suggests.Japanese scientists studied 13,988 Japanese people, aged 65 years and older, to investigate the effects of daily green tea consumption and other lifestyle factors on people's risk of functional disability.
They found that the more green tea a person drank each day, the lower their risk of such problems.
Publishing their findings in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the study authors concluded: "This cohort study indicates that green tea consumption is inversely associated with incident functional disability.
"Clinical trials are ultimately necessary to confirm the protective effect of green tea against functional disability."
However, other hot beverages, such as black tea, oolong tea and coffee, did not have the same beneficial effect.
Although the study did not look at the possible reasons behind green tea's apparent beneficial effect, the drink is known to be high in antioxidant chemicals that may help to protect the body's cells.
