Green Tea, Exercise May Help Reduce The Risk Of Alzheimer's

Recent findings published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease suggest that drinking green tea with a bit of exercise added in could help to slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease.

Researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia discovered a compound in green tea and how voluntary exercise could help to hinder the progress of Alzheimer's disease. They also discovered that an extract could potentially lead to advancements in the treatment and prevention of Alzheimer's disease in humans.

"In Alzheimer's patients, amyloid-beta peptide (A-beta) can accumulate and clump together causing amyloid plaques in the brain," researcher Todd Schachtman said in a news release. "Symptoms can include increased memory loss and confusion, agitation and a lack of concern for your environment and surroundings. We looked at ways of preventing or postponing the onset of the disease which we hope can eventually lead to an improvement of health status and quality of life for the elderly."

Previous studies have shown a link to reducing the risk of Alzheimer's, but the study authors at Mizzou decided to take it a step further and investigate the effects of voluntary exercise and epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), a green tea extract, on memory function and A-beta levels in mice that's known to show plaque deposits and behavior deficits.

"Mice exhibiting symptoms of the disease had nests that were poorly formed or erratic," Schachtman added. "Further, we found that mice with Alzheimer's symptoms, much like people, can be apathetic about their habitat, or have forgotten how to 'nest' appropriately."

In the future, researchers said they hope to look at how green tea extracts and other botanicals, also known as nutraceuticals, are being further explored in slowing the progression of the neurodegenerative illness.