A new research has found that drinking green tea has its profound effects on relieving symptoms of Alzheimer's disease and some other types of dementia.

The study conducted by researchers from the Medicinal Plant Research Group at the School of Agriculture in Newcastle University with joint efforts of the Scottish Crop Research Institute and the GGS Indraprastha University in India analyzed the effect of polyphenol compounds present in green tea by experimenting its extracts in rats.

Polyphenols, which are found both in green and black tea helps safeguarding nerve cells by making toxic free radicals non-reactive. The radicals can suppress the nerve cells, which are required for proper functioning of brain and its connection with the beta-amyloid protein (also has its role in giving birth to Alzheimer's) and dementia was found by some previous studies.

In the research, emphasis was laid on a type of polyphenol called a flavonol present in green tea. A mixture was formed known as colon-available green tea extract (CAGTE), which was examined on cells grown in the laboratory using rat nerve tumour cells. They were also incubated with either free radicals producing hydrogen peroxide or beta-amyloid.

CAGTE was found to save the rat nerve cells from the toxicity generated by hydrogen peroxide and death instigated by beta-amyloid. Both higher and lower concentration of CAGTE left their effects, but higher level decreased the number of cells.

Green tea is also beneficial in cutting risk of some forms of cancer. However, further study is required to test the effectiveness of green tea in humans.