Monday, June 21, 2010

Tea compounds may boost attention span: Unilever


There is good news about tea for baby boomer or menopausal brain fog. Recent research shows that a combination of 97 milligrams of L-theanine and 40 milligrams of caffeine was associated with improvements in attention. So if you like your tea and coffee, read more.

Publication of the study comes a year after EFSA turned down Unilever-submitted health claims linking black tea consumption and improved mental focus. The European scientific assessor said in January 2009 that the dossier failed to demonstrate causality.

While no one was available for comment from Unilever prior to publication, global media relations director, Trevor Gorin, told NutraIngredients.com in 2009 following EFSA’s opinion that his company stood by the claims.

The new study supports the association between tea and attention, although it did not report any benefits for alertness. The findings of the randomized, placebo controlled, double-blind, cross-over study in the journal Appetite.

The study, led by Suzanne Einöther from sensation, perception and behaviour at Unilever R&D Vlaardingen, recruited 29 healthy regular tea and/or coffee drinkers to take part in the study. The average age was 30.6, 11 were men, and the body mass index was between 20 and 30 kg/m2.

People were randomized to consume a drink containing L-theanine (Suntheanine, Taiyo) and caffeine mixed with iced tea powder in water, or a placebo (water with iced tea powder) separated by between 6 and 14 days, and subsequently completed a cognitive test at baseline, and then 10 and 60 minutes after drinking...read more

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