A large prospective cohort study carried out in Japan, has shown that consumption of green tea is associated with a significantly lower risk of the elderly developing functional disability problems ie impairments in the ability to carry out daily activities such as washing and dressing.
Data on green tea consumption and other lifestyle factors was collected in 2006 from 14 000 people aged 65 and over, and subjects were then followed up for three years, with information on developing disability collected from the public long-term care insurance database. The results showed that the more green tea people drank, the lower their risk of developing functional disability. In those who consumed less than one cup of green tea each day, 13% developed some functional disability, whereas in those consuming five cups or more, the corresponding figure was 7%.
(Green Tea Consumption and the Risk of Incident Functional Disability in Elderly Japanese: The Ohsaki Cohort 2006 Study. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, March 2012.)