Posted on 21. Oct, 2009 by Kerry D Friesen, M.D. in Aesthetics & Anti•Aging, Brain Health, Men's Health, Women's Health
Green Tea Helps Depression
Depression can be difficult to treat.
Even with the most effective medications, a sixty percent response rate is considered exceptional. Worse yet for most people, continued treatment revolves around minimizing side-effects rather than aggressively addressing the circumstances that allowed the depression to develop in the first place.
Even more confusing are recent clinical studies that suggest new-generation anti-depressant medications may function primarily as placebos for everyone but the most severely depressed.
Like most physicians, I have watched select patients benefit from SSRI and dopaminergic-type medications and marveled at their relatively rapid onset and ease of use. And, like most physicians, I’ve watched as patients gain weight, develop sexual side-effects and after prolonged drug therapy become less engaged and more dispassionate about life in general.
Clearly, a “pharmaceutical answer only” is not the best approach.
A recent study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, investigated the relationship between green tea consumption and depressive symptoms in 1,058 elderly Japanese over the age of 70 with mild to severe depression.
In Japan, as in the United States, depression is common among the elderly and frequently misdiagnosed or ignored altogether.
Moreover, it is now well known that depression increases the risk of other medical disorders such as heart disease and diabetes. In addition, the World Health Organization (WHO) forecasts that within 20 years more people will be affected by depression than any other health problem.
Depressive symptoms were 44 percent lower for study participants that drank four or more cups of green tea per day even after adjusting for additional risk factors such as sex, age, BMI, alchohol consumption, smoking and diet!
Of course other factors associated with tea drinking may be involved and a larger population based study would reveal any potential confounding variables.
However, in the meanwhile here is what is known.
A previous study by the same author, found that drinking five cups of green tea per day reduced the incidence of psychological distress by 20 per cent.
Anti-anxiety/ Anti-stress Benefits
In addition to its well-known role as an antioxidant, green tea contains L-theanine. L-theanine, (N-ethyl-L-glutamine) is a major amino acid uniquely found in green tea.
In animals, l-theanine increases serotonin, dopamine and GABA levels in the brain promoting relaxation. L-theanine also has neuroprotective properties by virtue of its ability to antagonize the excitiotoxicity of glutamic acid (think monosodium glutamate).
Consumption of as little as 50 mg of l-theanine is associated with alpha brain wave activity observed in states of profound relaxation.
The final message? Don’t despair—help may be as close at hand as your next “cup of tea”. If all else fails, try l-theanine 50 mg, 2 -3 times per day for a more relaxed brain.
© 2008 Kerry D Friesen, M.D.. All Rights Reserved.
