Drinking four cups of tea a day ‘reduces dementia risk by a quarter’

FOUR cups of tea or coffee a day lowers the risk of dementia by more than a quarter, one study found.

Regularly drinking hot beverages also reduces stroke rates by about a third.

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Researchers found that it also halved the number of cases of dementia after a stroke.

This finding is from a study of 365,682 British men and women aged 50 to 74 over 15 years old.

Dr. Yuan Zhang, of Tianjin Medical University, China, said: “Drinking coffee and tea in moderation or in combination is associated with a reduced risk of stroke and dementia.”

This drink is rich in phytochemicals called flavonoids that enhance blood flow to the brain.

They also reduce inflammation and destroy rogue proteins called amyloid-beta that cause nerve cell damage.

Participants who drank two or three cups of coffee and the same cup of tea per day had a 28% and 32% lower risk of dementia and stroke, respectively.

Dementia affects 920,000 people in the UK – a number that will rise to two million by 2050. Stroke kills 38,000 people every year.