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Green tea compound may help treat Down syndrome

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According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), around 6,000 babies are born with Down syndrome each year. That works out to roughly one in every 700 babies born. Pretty staggering statistics, but what if something as simple as green tea could help treat this?

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Down syndrome occurs when an individual is born with “a partial or full additional copy of chromosome 21, meaning they have three copies of this chromosome, rather than the normal two.” This extra chromosome causes genes to over express themselves creating physical symptoms like “reduced muscle tone, a small head, ears and mouth, a flattened facial profile, and upward-slanting eyes.”

Additionally, people with Down syndrome often have cognitive impairments, including trouble concentrating, language and speech delays or learning disabilities.

Recently, doctors at the Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) in Barcelona, Spain have begun looking at epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), a compound found in green tea that may be able to treat some of these cognitive impairments.

“Research has shown that such cognitive impairments are down to overexpression of a gene called DYRK1A, and studies in mice have suggested the compound EGCG could reduce DYRK1A overexpression,” explains Dr. Mara Dierssen, co-leader of the study.

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EGCG is an antioxidant, which falls under the class of polyphenols. These have been show to protect the body against cell damage, and are often found in skincare and anti-aging beauty products.

For the study, doctors looked at 84 Down syndrome patients aged 16 to 34 over a period of one year. During this time, all 84 underwent cognitive training exercises, but some were given a daily dose of decaffeinated green tea containing EGCG (9 milligrams per kilogram) while the others received a placebo.

By conducting a series of cognitive tests throughout the year, they were able to prove that those taking the EGCG performed higher than those on the placebo, particularly with visual recognition memory, the ability to resist distractions and adaptive social, conceptual and practical behaviour. Additionally, brain scans showed improved functional connectivity between nerve cells.

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“It was surprising to see how the changes are not just cognitive - in the reasoning, learning, memory and attention capacities - but suggest that the functional connectivity of the neurons in the brain was also modified,” says study co-leader Dr. Rafael de la Torre.

“This is the first time that a treatment has shown some efficacy in the improvement of some cognitive tasks in persons with this syndrome,” adds Dierssen.

That said, this is not a cure.

“It must be made clear that our discovery is not a cure for Down syndrome and that our results have to be proven in larger populations, but it may be a treatment to improve these individuals’ quality of life.“

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