Black tea helps prevent Parkinson's disease

Time to enjoy a cuppa. In Grow Youthful, I explained how green tea has lots more health and longevity benefits than the standard black tea that most people drink. But are there any cases in which black tea is more healthful?

A large study (1) in Singapore showed that black tea may be able to slash the risk of getting Parkinson's disease by almost a third. Researchers found that people who drank the most black tea were 29 percent less likely to develop Parkinson's disease, compared with those who drank little or no black tea. At first the researchers thought the higher level of caffeine in black tea was responsible for the benefit, but it turned out not to be so. Instead, it appears that black tea somehow affects the level of estrogen in a way that prevents Parkinson's. Interestingly, the disease is less common in women than in men, which again points to this female hormone

In contrast, green tea showed no protective effects against Parkinson's disease. Nevertheless, green tea is still my preferred long-life tea

(1) Differential effects of black versus green tea on risk of Parkinson's disease in the Singapore Chinese Health Study. Tan, L. C. et al., American Journal of Epidemiology 2008 Mar 1;167(5):553-560