EFFECTS OF GREEN TEA ON BRAIN FUNCTIONS: REVIEW

  • Malatesh. S. Akkur

Abstract

Green tea (Camellia sinensis) has been eaten for thousands of years as a beverage. Numerous claims have been reported and studied about the advantages of its ingestion. As green tea is undergoing a rise in popularity in Western society and as it is consumed every day by millions of people around the world, it is important to consider its impact on the human brain. The aim of this study is to examine the current state of awareness in the literature on the effects of green tea or green tea extracts, L-theanine and epigallocatechin gallate, on general neuropsychology, on cognition sub-category and on human brain functions, on both constituents of green tea. The study found evidence that green tea affects psychopathological symptoms (e.g. anxiety reduction), cognition (e.g. memory and concentration benefits) and brain activity (e.g. activation of working memory seen in functional MRI). A single constituent of the liquid should not be attributed to the effects of green tea. This is exemplified in the observation that under the combined influence of both caffeine and L-theanine, positive green tea effects on cognition was observed, although independent administration of each drug was shown to have a lesser impact.

 

Published
2019-07-30
Section
Articles