Could Drinking Tea Boost Brain Connectivity?

Islamabad (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 17th September, 2019) A recent small scale study looks for differences in connectivity in the brains of people who drink tea regularly and those who rarely drink tea.

The findings seem encouraging, but much more work is needed.Spending just a few moments searching the internet for the health benefits of tea produces hundreds of supposed benefits.However, despite people's commonly held beliefs that tea can heal all ills, finding substantial evidence to back up these claims is more challenging.

This is especially true when searching for tea's benefits on brain health.Although there is no definitive evidence, some studies have identified certain associations between tea drinking and mental health.

For instance, one study found that depressive symptoms were less common in older adults who drank tea consistently and frequently.Another study, using 2,501 participants, concluded that "Regular tea consumption was associated with lower risks of cognitive impairment and decline."Tea drinking and lines of communicationThe current investigation takes a slightly different approach.

Rather than focusing on cognitive or psychological measures, the authors "explored brain connectivity with both global and regional metrics derived from structural and functional imaging."In other words, they wanted to identify whether lines of communication within the brains of tea drinkers were organized more efficiently.In particular, the researchers focused on connectivity in the default mode network (DMN).

The DMN is a large network that connects a number of brain regions.A small number of participants onlyTo investigate, the researchers recruited just 36 adults who were 60 years of age or older. Each participant provided information about their psychological well-being, general health, and lifestyle.

The scientists gave each participant an MRI scan and put them through their neuropsychological paces with a battery of tests.The scientists split the participants into tea drinkers who consumed tea frequently (15 people) and non-tea drinkers who rarely or never drank any type of tea (21 people).All but six of the participants were female.

Importantly, there was no significant difference between the two groups regarding the amount ofcoffee that they consumed.The scientists compared the results of the neuropsychological and cognitive measures between the two groups.

In 11 out of 12 tests, there were no significant differences.A drop in the ocean of evidenceIt is important to reiterate that this study compared the brains of just 36 individuals. From such a small sample, we cannot draw any solid conclusions.

There is a strong chance that any differences between the two groups might have occurred due to chance.Because the study is observational, it is not possible to rule out the possibility that other factors could be producing the differences in brain connectivity.