Green Tea Boosts Memory

So doctor should we be drinking gallons of green tea while in the hospital?
http://www.australasianscience.com.au/news/september-2012/green-tea-boosts-memory.html
It has long been believed that drinking green tea is good for the memory. Now researchers have discovered how the chemical properties of China’s favorite drink affect the generation of brain cells, providing benefits for memory and spatial learning. The research is published in Molecular Nutrition & Food Research.
“Green tea is a popular beverage across the world,” said Professor Yun Bai from the Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China. “There has been plenty of scientific attention on its use in helping prevent cardiovascular diseases, but now there is emerging evidence that its chemical properties may impact cellular mechanisms in the brain.”
Professor Bai’s team focused on the organic chemical EGCG, (epigallocatechin-3 gallate) a key property of green tea. While EGCG is a known anti-oxidant, the team believed it can also have a beneficial effect against age-related degenerative diseases.
“We proposed that EGCG can improve cognitive function by impacting the generation of neuron cells, a process known as neurogenesis,” said Bai. “We focused our research on the hippocampus, the part of the brain which processes information from short-term to long-term memory.”
The team found that EGCG boosts the production of neural progenitor cells, which like stem cells can adapt, or differentiate, into various types of cells. The team then used laboratory mice to discover if this increased cell production gave an advantage to memory or spatial learning.
“We ran tests on two groups of mice, one which had imbibed EGCG and a control group,” said Bai. “First the mice were trained for three days to find a visible platform in their maze. Then they were trained for seven days to find a hidden platform.”
The team found that the EGCG treated mice required less time to find the hidden platform. Overall the results revealed that EGCG enhances learning and memory by improving object recognition and spatial memory.
“We have shown that the organic chemical EGCG acts directly to increase the production of neural progenitor cells, both in glass tests and in mice,” concluded Bai. “This helps us to understand the potential for EGCG, and green tea which contains it, to help combat degenerative diseases and memory loss.”
This paper is published as part of a collection of articles bringing together high quality research on the theme of food science and technology with particular relevance to China. Browse free articles from Wiley's food science and technology publications including the Journal of Food Science, Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, and Molecular Nutrition & Food Research.


 You will want to read this before you start your green tea and then start questioning your doctor.
http://www.happyhealthylonglife.com/happy_healthy_long_life/2010/12/shinya.html  One paragraph here;

The Green Tea Myth

We've all heard about the antioxidant benefits of green tea. There are all kinds of benefits attributed to green tea.   Shinya disagrees.  Yes, it does have antioxidants, but in his clinical experience, people who drink a lot of green tea also have stomach problems.  Here's why:  although it contains polyphenols that can neutralize the damage of free radicals, it also produces tannin.  When tannin is exposed to hot water or air, it turns into tannic acid which coagulates proteins, and can have a negative effect on the gastric mucosa.   "The fact is, when I use an endoscope to examine the stomachs of people who regularly drink tea (green tea, Chinese tea, English black tea or coffee that contains a lot of tannic acid) I usually find their gastric mucosa has thinned due to atrophic changes.  It is a well known fact that chronic atrophic changes or chronic gastritis can become stomach cancer."