Green, Black Tea Reduce Stroke Risk

LOS ANGELES—Drinking at least three cups of green or black tea made from the plant Camellia sinensis a day can significantly reduce the risk of stroke, according to a new UCLA study published in the online edition of Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.

UCLA researchers conducted an evidence-based review of all human observational studies on stroke and tea consumption found in the PubMed and Web of Science archives. They found nine studies describing 4,378 strokes among nearly 195,000 individuals, according to lead author Lenore Arab, professor of medicine in the division of general internal medicine and health services research at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

“By drinking three cups of tea a day, the risk of a stroke was reduced by 21 percent. It didn't matter if it was green or black tea," Arab said, adding that the effect appears to be linear. For instance, if one drinks three cups a day, the risk falls by 21 percent; follow that with another three cups and the risk drops another 21 percent.

Developing medications for stroke victims is particularly challenging, given that the drug has to get to the stroke-damaged site quickly because damage occurs so fast. Arab said by the time a stroke victim gets medical care, it's nearly too late to impede the damage.

"That's why these findings are so exciting," she said. "If we can find a way to prevent the stroke, or prevent the damage, that is simple and not toxic, that would be a great advance."

Though no one is certain which compounds in tea are responsible for this effect, researchers have speculated that the antioxidant epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG) or the amino acid theanine may be what helps.

"We do know that theanine is nearly 100-percent absorbed," Arab said. "It gets across the blood-brain barrier and it looks a lot like a molecule that's very similar to glutamate, and glutamate release is associated with stroke. It could be that theanine and glutamate compete for the glutamate receptor in the brain.”