Green Tea Fights Depression

http://www.wctv.tv/healthmatters/headlines/80110282.html

December 24, 2009

A little green may scare away the blues.

A new study out of Japan found elderly people who sip green tea daily are less likely to suffer depression.

They looked at green tea consumption in more than a thousand relatively healthy elderly men and women.

Those who drank at least four cups a day were forty-four percent less likely to have depression symptoms compared to those who drank just one cup or none at all.

What's more -- green tea's protective effect didn't fade even when scientists factored in age, diet, gender, and whether they were taking an antidepressant.

Researchers think an amino acid in green tea -- called theanine -- has a tranquilizing effect on the brain, which may help alleviate depression symptoms.
The study appears in the "American Journal of Clinical Nutrition."