Health & Medicine

Drinking Green Tea May Help Prevent Spinal Cord Damage

Kathleen Lees
First Posted: Aug 25, 2014 12:16 AM EDT

Could drinking green tea help to protect the brain?

Recent findings published in the journal Neural Regeneration Research have found that polyphenol in green tea can actually protect against spinal cord neurons that are used against oxidative stress as well as reduce potential damage. 

As green tea is loaded with polyphenols or potent antioxidants that help protect the spinal cord neurons from oxidative stress, study results showed that green tea extracts help to significantly reduce oxidative stress and neuronal apoptosis.

Lead study author Jianbo Zhao found that green tea polyphenols can help to pretect the spinal cord from secondary injury, also.

Over time, accumulation of oxidation can lead to numerous health issues, such as lipid peroxidation, DNA damage and protein oxidation.

With this and future research, the study authors hope to continue working on a possible treatment for the functional recovery and regeneration of neurons following spinal cord injury.

See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone

More on SCIENCEwr