The healing, beneficial effect of green tea is owed mainly to the secondary plant substances (flavonoids) and antioxidants it contains. The main active ingredient is the antioxidant epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), which makes up about a third of the dry matter in green tea.
Green tea benefits
Cognitive abilities
Green tea extract, and particularly the amino acid theanine it contains, can help improve memory and cognitive function by strengthening the connection between regions of the cerebral cortex that are critical to working memory.
Prevention of protein deposits / plaque
Neurodegenerative diseases such as forms of dementia (e.g. Alzheimer’s) and Parkinson’s are caused by the formation of amyloid fibrils. The flavonoid epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) prevents their formation by binding to the native, unfolded polypeptide chains (proteins). As a result, harmless, spherical oligomers are formed instead of the toxic, fibrous amyloid fibrils and protein deposits are prevented or dissolved. According to study results by researchers at the University of Basel, green tea extract has great potential to improve the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders such as dementia.