Sometimes it’s better to ditch that cup of Joe and go instead for tea. A study by the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition reveals that green tea helps improve memory and cognition in men.

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The study involved 12 healthy men — half of them consumed a drink containing green tea extract and the other half was a placebo group, given a drink without the extract. While performing a memory test, the scientists took an inside look into the men’s brains using an MRI machine. The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, an area of the brain associated with focus and problem-solving, of those who drank green tea was activated significantly compared to the placebo group’s.

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So how does green tea boost one’s brainpower? It is considered that green tea’s health benefits can be attributed to polyphenols like ECGC. The study’s authors also believe that green tea helps in preventing the degradation of neurotransmitters.

A study from China backs up this finding, proposing that ECGC in green tea indeed improves generation of neurons. The team used lab mice to discover if the increase in cell production enhanced memory and spatial learning. The ECGC-treated mice found the hidden platform created by the team in less time than the normal mice would.

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These new scientific findings on the health benefits of green tea can help in formulating treatments for degenerative diseases and memory loss.

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