The Green Shield: Matcha’s Role in Reducing Alzheimer's Risk
Matcha, cultivated extensively in Japan and China, is a ground form of green tea leaves that has been increasing in popularity among Western populations, particularly younger generations.Known for its modulated ability to release caffeine into our system and its many health benefits, a key ingredient in matcha is now being recognized as a potential preventative treatment for some pathological hallmarks of neurogenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's Disease (AD).
What is matcha?
Known for its bright green and frothy whisked appearance, matcha is often confused with its sister product, green tea. What exactly separates these two grassy, earthy, and vegetal drinks? Let's start with the tea behind them. All teas, except for herbal or fruit, are derived from the same plant, Camellia Sinensis. Different teas, such as black, oolong, and white tea, are made through varying levels of leaf oxidation. Green tea comes from tea leaves that have undergone light oxidation and matcha is the resulting finely ground version. Unlike traditional green tea, where leaves are steeped in water and discarded, matcha involves consuming the entire tea leaf. This allows for a much more potent source of antioxidants, fiber, vitamins, and minerals.
What is so special about matcha?
Matcha, just like its tea form, is especially high in a type of antioxidant called catechins. Catechins are a type of antioxidant compound found in plant-based ingredients. They are categorized into five types and one of them, a compound called Epigallocatechin Gallate (EGCG), is found incredibly high in green tea leaves and matcha. Antioxidants are both supplementary and natural in our body and serve to react and reduce the amount of toxic, radical compounds in our body.
What is matcha?
Known for its bright green and frothy whisked appearance, matcha is often confused with its sister product, green tea. What exactly separates these two grassy, earthy, and vegetal drinks? Let's start with the tea behind them. All teas, except for herbal or fruit, are derived from the same plant, Camellia Sinensis. Different teas, such as black, oolong, and white tea, are made through varying levels of leaf oxidation. Green tea comes from tea leaves that have undergone light oxidation and matcha is the resulting finely ground version. Unlike traditional green tea, where leaves are steeped in water and discarded, matcha involves consuming the entire tea leaf. This allows for a much more potent source of antioxidants, fiber, vitamins, and minerals.
What is so special about matcha?
Matcha, just like its tea form, is especially high in a type of antioxidant called catechins. Catechins are a type of antioxidant compound found in plant-based ingredients. They are categorized into five types and one of them, a compound called Epigallocatechin Gallate (EGCG), is found incredibly high in green tea leaves and matcha. Antioxidants are both supplementary and natural in our body and serve to react and reduce the amount of toxic, radical compounds in our body.
Matcha in two different forms, finely ground and in a consumable tea form.
Image Source: dungthuyvunguyen
What does this mean exactly?
As we go about our everyday lives, chemical reactions in our bodies, as well as reactions in nature, can build up in and expose our bodies to harmful radicals. These ‘harmful radicals’ are unstable atoms (often oxygen and nitrogen) that, in extensive of quantities, can break up other chemical reactions occurring in our bodies, causing DNA mutations, cellular stress, and malfunctions.
In comparison to the rest of the organs in our body, the brain requires a level of energy much higher than others, resulting in an immensely greater percentage of oxygen usage. As a consequence, the brain generates higher proportions of these free radical species than other organs, resulting in a need for a higher antioxidant environment to balance and reduce this. These high radical environments can be referred to as oxidatively stressed, and these mutations caused by this oxidative stress can lead to the key chemical hallmarks of Alzheimer's Disease. Important cellular pathways in the brain responsible for memory and cognition malfunction and cause chemical plaques and tangles in our brain, resulting in a rapid decline in function. Given its potent antioxidant properties, EGCG in matcha can reduce the production of free radicals, balancing the chemical environment for cell functions, and lowering the risk of AD and other diseases linked to oxidative stress.
Conclusion
While matcha alone is not an all-cure for Alzheimer’s, incorporating matcha into your daily routine can effectively introduce a healthy amount of antioxidants and a natural boost of energy to your day. Adding matcha into your routine can be as simple as making a matcha latte in the morning before work, incorporating it into baked or cooked desserts or goods, or, in the traditional manner, whisking it in hot, but not boiling, water to create a warm, frothy tea that’s high in antioxidants and packed with vitamins and minerals.
As we go about our everyday lives, chemical reactions in our bodies, as well as reactions in nature, can build up in and expose our bodies to harmful radicals. These ‘harmful radicals’ are unstable atoms (often oxygen and nitrogen) that, in extensive of quantities, can break up other chemical reactions occurring in our bodies, causing DNA mutations, cellular stress, and malfunctions.
In comparison to the rest of the organs in our body, the brain requires a level of energy much higher than others, resulting in an immensely greater percentage of oxygen usage. As a consequence, the brain generates higher proportions of these free radical species than other organs, resulting in a need for a higher antioxidant environment to balance and reduce this. These high radical environments can be referred to as oxidatively stressed, and these mutations caused by this oxidative stress can lead to the key chemical hallmarks of Alzheimer's Disease. Important cellular pathways in the brain responsible for memory and cognition malfunction and cause chemical plaques and tangles in our brain, resulting in a rapid decline in function. Given its potent antioxidant properties, EGCG in matcha can reduce the production of free radicals, balancing the chemical environment for cell functions, and lowering the risk of AD and other diseases linked to oxidative stress.
Conclusion
While matcha alone is not an all-cure for Alzheimer’s, incorporating matcha into your daily routine can effectively introduce a healthy amount of antioxidants and a natural boost of energy to your day. Adding matcha into your routine can be as simple as making a matcha latte in the morning before work, incorporating it into baked or cooked desserts or goods, or, in the traditional manner, whisking it in hot, but not boiling, water to create a warm, frothy tea that’s high in antioxidants and packed with vitamins and minerals.
Featured Image Source: Hoyas
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