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Green Tea Improves Physical Function in Elderly

By Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS, February 14, 2012, abstracted from “Green tea consumption and the risk of incident functional disability in elderly Japanese: the Ohsaki Cohort 2006 Study” in the January 25, 2012 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition

Americans consumed 65 billion servings of tea in 2010, with green tea constituting the largest portion (19.5% of total tea intake) (1). Green tea provides many health benefits. Consuming at least 1 cup per day benefits gum health (2) and helps reduce periodontal disease’s $100 billion cost each year (3). At least 2 cups per day lowers the risk of death from cardiovascular disease by 23% (4) and helps curtail its $450 billion cost each year (5).

But it is green tea’s ability to help maintain bone health (6) and protect against hip fracture (7) that has raised interest in it as a way to help reduce disability in the elderly. Now a new Japanese study (8) continues to suggest that green tea can help improve physical function in the elderly.

In the study, researchers analyzed data on 13,988 Japanese individuals over the age of 65 who provided information on their daily tea consumption and any history of disease, blood pressure, educational level, smoking, alcohol drinking, body weight, height, cognitive activity (9), psychological distress (10, 11), time spent walking per day, and motor function (12). The subjects were then monitored for up to 3 years.

At the end of the 3 years of observation, 9.4% of the subjects had some sort of functional disability (1,316 cases among the 13,988 subjects). Compared to those who drank less than 1 cup of green tea per day, those drinking 5 or more cups had a 34% reduced risk of functional disability, those drinking 3-4 cups/day had a 25% reduced risk, and those consuming 1-2 cups per day had a 23% reduced risk of functional disability (p < 0.001). There was no association between black tea and oolong tea consumption and functional disability.

For the researchers, “Green tea consumption is significantly associated with a lower risk of incident functional disability, even after adjustment for possible confounding factors.”

Greg Arnold is a Chiropractic Physician practicing in Hauppauge, NY. You can contact Dr. Arnold directly by emailing him at PitchingDoc@msn.com or visiting his web site at www.PitchingDoc.com

Reference:

1. “Tea Fact Sheet” - http://www.teausa.com/general/501g.cfm

2. Kushiyama M. Relationship Between Intake of Green Tea and Periodontal Disease. Jou Periodontol 2009; 80 (3):372-377

3. “Periodontal (Gum) Diseases” posted on www.ada.org

4. Kuriyama S. Green tea consumption and mortality due to cardiovascular disease, cancer, and all causes in Japan: the Ohsaki study. JAMA. 2006 Sep 13;296(10):1255-65.

5. “Cardiovascular Disease Cost” posted on www.americanheart.org

6. Muraki S, Yamamoto S, Ishibashi H, Oka H, Yoshimura N, Kawaguchi H, Nakamura K. Diet and lifestyle associated with increased bone mineral density: cross-sectional study of Japanese elderly women at an osteoporosis outpatient clinic. J Orthop Sci 2007;12:317–20

7. Suzuki T, Yoshida H, Hashimoto T, Yoshimura N, Fujiwara S, Fukunaga M, et al. Case-control study of risk factors for hip fractures in the Japanese elderly by a Mediterranean Osteoporosis Study (MEDOS) questionnaire. Bone 1997;21:461–7

8. Tomata Y. Green tea consumption and the risk of incident functional disability in elderly Japanese: the Ohsaki Cohort 2006 Study. Am J Clin Nutr doi: 10.3945/ajcn.111.023200.

9. Wilson RS, Mendes De Leon CF, Barnes LL, Schneider JA, Bienias JL, Evans DA, Bennett DA. Participation in cognitively stimulating activities and risk of incident Alzheimer disease. JAMA 2002;287:742–8

10. Kessler RC, Andrews G, Colpe LJ, Hiripi E, Mroczek DK, Normand SL, Walters EE, Zaslavsky AM. Short screening scales to monitor population prevalences and trends in non-specific psychological distress. Psychol Med 2002;32:959–76.

11. Kessler RC, Barker PR, Colpe LJ, Epstein JF, Gfroerer JC, Hiripi E, Howes MJ, Normand SL, Manderscheid RW, Walters EE, et al. Screening for serious mental illness in the general population. Arch Gen Psychiatry 2003;60:184–9.

12. Tomata Y, Hozawa A, Ohmori-Matsuda K, Nagai M, Sugawara Y, Nitta A, Kuriyama S, Tsuji I. Validation of the Kihon Checklist for predicting the risk of 1-year incident long-term care insurance certification: the Ohsaki Cohort 2006 Study. Nippon Koshu Eisei Zasshi 2011;58:3–13