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This Article Full Text (Publish Ahead of Print[PDF]) All Versions of this Article: 90/6/1615    most recent ajcn.2009.28216v1 Purchase Article View Shopping Cart Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Google Scholar Articles by Niu, K. Articles by Tsuji, I. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Niu, K. Articles by Tsuji, I. Agricola Articles by Niu, K. Articles by Tsuji, I.

Green tea consumption is associated with depressive symptoms in the elderly^1,2,3

¹ From the Division of Biomedical Engineering for Health and Welfare, Tohoku University Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering, Sendai, Japan (KN, HG, and RN); the Department of Public Health and Forensic Medicine, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Japan (AH, SK, NN, KO-M, HT, and IT); the Department of Geriatrics and Gerontology Division of Brain Sciences, Institute of Development, Aging and Cancer, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan (SE, MA, and HA); the Division of Psychiatry, Kodama Hospital, Sendai, Japan (YM); the Department of Social and Preventive Epidemiology, School of Public Health, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan (SS); and the Division of Neuropsychiatry and Center for Dementia, Sendai City Hospital, Sendai, Japan (SA).

² Supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (no. 13557031) from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan, by research grants from the Japan Atherosclerosis Prevention Fund, and by a grant for Comprehensive Research on Aging and Health (H18-choju-014) from the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare of Japan.

³ Address correspondence to K Niu, Division of Biomedical Engineering for Health and Welfare, Tohoku University Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering, 2-1 Seiryo-machi, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-8575, Japan. E-mail: ggg{at}mail.tains.tohoku.ac.jp.

ABSTRACT

Background: Green tea is reported to have various beneficial effects (eg, anti–stress response and antiinflammatory effects) on human health. Although these functions might be associated with the development and progression of depressive symptoms, no studies have investigated the relation between green tea consumption and depressive symptoms in a community-dwelling population.

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the relations between green tea consumption and depressive symptoms in elderly Japanese subjects who widely consumed green tea.

Design: We conducted a cross-sectional study in 1058 community-dwelling elderly Japanese individuals aged 70 y. Green tea consumption was assessed by using a self-administered questionnaire, and depressive symptoms were evaluated by using the 30-item Geriatric Depression Scale with 2 cutoffs: 11 (mild and severe depressive symptoms) and 14 (severe depressive symptoms). If a participant was consuming antidepressants, he or she was considered to have depressive symptoms.

Results: The prevalence of mild and severe and severe depressive symptoms was 34.1% and 20.2%, respectively. After adjustment for confounding factors, the odds ratios (95% CI) for mild and severe depressive symptoms when higher green tea consumption was compared with green tea consumption of 1 cup/d were as follows: 2–3 cups green tea/d (0.96; 95% CI: 0.66, 1.42) and 4 cups green tea/d (0.56; 95% CI: 0.39, 0.81) (P for trend: 0.001). Similar relations were also observed in the case of severe depressive symptoms.

Conclusion: A more frequent consumption of green tea was associated with a lower prevalence of depressive symptoms in the community-dwelling older population.

Received for publication June 12, 2009. Accepted for publication September 12, 2009.