by WTN Staff

Even accounting for complicating factors, participants in a recent study showed an inverse relationship between green tea consumption and psychological distress.

The study, published in the September 2009 edition of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, was conducted at Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan. It sought to clarify, through a large-scale study, whether green tea consumption was associated with lower psychological distress.

A team of medical researchers analyzed data gathered from 42,093 Japanese people age 40 and older. They had answered questions about their lifestyle, including green tea drinking habits and psychological distress as indicated by the Kessler 6-item scale.

After cross-sectioning and qualifying data, the team found an inverse relationship green tea consumption and psychological distress. Respondents who consumed five or more cups of green tea per day were 80 percent less likely to suffer psychological distress than those who consumed one cup or less of green tea per day.

According to an abstract, the inverse relationship between green tea consumption and psychological distress "persisted when respondents were stratified by social support subgroups or by activities in communities," and "even after adjustment for possible confounding factors."