Green Tea Protect Against Junk Food and Brain Damage

by Julian
(Bromley)

Candy, cupcake, ice cream, salty snacks, and soft drinks. What do they have in common?

Well, as a father of two young girls, I know these junk food are craved and loved by kids and even adults alike.

High in sugar, salt and fat, we know they can cause weight gain and diebetes. But do you know that they can damage your brain by imparing learning, memory and increase the risk of dementia and alzheimer?

A scientific study shows that even a short-term diet of junk food can damage brain function permanently. "We know obesity causes inflammation in the body, but we didn't realize that junk food also causes changes in the brain," says study author Margaret Morris.

Researchers at the University of New South Wales in Australia discovered that rats fed high-fat, high-sugar diets had significantly impaired special memory skills after only one week compared to rodents given healthier diets. The junk food–fed rats weren't able to find objects that the researchers moved around, which was no problem for the other rats. Plus, these animals had inflammation around the hippocampus, the part of the brain that controls special memory.

However, a new study found that green tea drinkers have some protection from weight gain, diabetes and brain damages?

A 2017 study conducted by College of Food Science and Engineering, Northwest A&F University, in Yangling, China, found that green tea antioxidant epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) protects against junk food in three ways.

It reduces weight gain, preserves memory and reduces insulin sensitivity (thereby protects against diabetes).

In the study, mice were fed high fat, high fructose diet for 16 weeks. At the end of the study, mice that consumed green tea were protected more against weight loss, diabetes and memory loss.

The researchers also performed memory tests called the Morris water maze test (a navigation task). The mice who took the EGCG supplement were a lot faster at finding the maze's escape and found a shorter path.

Scientist Xuebo Liu said: "The ancient habit of drinking green tea may be a more acceptable alternative to medicine when it comes to combating obesity, insulin resistance, and memory impairment."

Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28739640