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SINGAPORE: Black, not green tea, helps to ward off Parkinson's disease. In a landmark study here, researchers have found that drinking black tea reduces the risk of Parkinson's among the Chinese population.
Good news, perhaps, for Singapore's ageing population, which might see the number of Parkinson's cases jump two-and-a-half fold by 2030.
The ongoing study, which began 15 years ago, is the first of its kind in Asia and one of only a handful worldwide. It is also the first large-scale community-based study on diet and nutrition in Singapore.
Co-led by Dr Koh Woon Puay, an assistant professor from the community, occupational and family medicine department of Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine in the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Dr Louis Tan, a senior consultant neurologist at the National Neuroscience Institute (NNI), the study scrutinised the lifestyle and dietary habits of more than 63,000 Chinese Singaporeans.
After accounting for lifestyle factors, a "novel finding" was that black tea contains ingredients, other than caffeine, that have protective effects, said Dr Koh.
Previous studies had revealed the protective effects of caffeine.
The findings showed that having an average of one cup of black tea a day was strongly related to a nearly 70-per-cent reduced risk of the disease. When adjusted for the caffeine level in black tea, the results were almost the same. This proves "there's something in black tea other than caffeine that protects me", said Dr Koh.
On the other hand, green tea had no observable effect on one's susceptibility to Parkinson's.
Echoing the findings of previous studies, smokers were also found to be less susceptible to Parkinson's because nicotine provides strong protection. But there were also 10,000 other carcinogens in cigarettes, added Dr Koh.
Responding to media queries, Dr Koh said the protective effect of black tea and caffeine functioned independently.
A person who drinks black tea and coffee would have greater protection, compared to one who drinks only one of the beverages.
When asked for a recommended level of intake, she said the study offered no absolute amounts, showing only "the pattern that higher caffeine content offers higher protection".
Of course everything must be done in moderation, she laughed: "Don't go drinking bucketfuls of tea."
There are many Western studies on Parkinson's disease, but not enough with data on Asians. So, the Singapore finding aims to fill this gap, said Dr Koh.
Dr Tan said further studies would have to be conducted to test the results against the other races here. Previous researches had shown that the incidence of Parkinson's among the Chinese, Malays and Indians was similar.
The study will continue looking for other factors associated with the disease and the NNI will be looking into why black tea offers such protection. The goal is to develop drugs that prevent or reduce the development of Parkinson's, said Dr Tan.
There are 2,000 to 3,000 cases of Parkinson's here, with about 300 new ones recorded annually. - TODAY/ar
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