According to a study published in the journal Neural Regeneration Research, drinking green tea may protect your brain in case of a spinal cord injury.
Chinese researchers suggest that green is loaded with polyphenols, strong antioxidants, which protect spinal cord neurons against oxidative stress induced by free radicals generated by the body. The results of lab experiments on rats showed that green tea extracts significantly reduces oxidative stress and reduce neuronal apoptosis.
According to lead researcher Jianbo Zhao and co-workers from the First Affiliated Hospital of Liaoning Medical University, the results show that green tea polyphenols can help protect spinal cord neurons against oxidative stress exposure, which is an important factor in secondary injury after damage to the spinal cord.
Accumulation of oxidation products can cause a series of harmful effects such as lipid peroxidation, protein oxidation and DNA damage. The findings show a possible treatment for the functional recovery and regeneration of neurons after spinal cord injury, researchers of the study suggest. Spinal cord injuries comprise primary and secondary injuries.
The former refers to mechanical injury to the spinal cord and the latter to a series of pathological changes such as oxidative stress and release of inflammatory factors with a complicated pathogenesis.
Source: thehealthsite.com/news/drinking-green-tea-prevents-spinal-cord-damage/
