SENDAI, Japan—Feeling stressed? Maybe grabbing a cup of green tea will help calm the nerves. In a recent study (Am J Clin Nutr. 2009 Sep 30.), green tea consumption was inversely associated with psychological distress, even after adjusting for lifestyle factors.
Japanese researchers analyzed cross-sectional data for 42,093 individuals older than 40 years old. Information on daily green tea consumption, psychological distress as assessed by the Kessler 6-item psychological distress scale, and other lifestyle factors was collected by using a questionnaire. They adjusted for age, sex, history of disease, body mass index (BMI), cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption, time spent walking, dietary factors, social support and participation in community.
Psychological distress affected 2,774 (6.6 percent) of the respondents. Researchers found a statistically significant inverse association between green tea consumption and psychological distress. Respondents who consumed more than five cups of green tea each day were less likely to experience psychological distress than those who drank less than one cup each day.