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Investigating the Impact of Tea Consumption on Cognitive Function and Exploring Tea-Genetic Interactions in Older Adults Aged 65–105 Years: Findings from the 2002–2018 CLHLS Data

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Abstract

Background

As the global population ages, cognitive impairment (CI) becomes more prevalent. Tea has been one of the most popular drinks in the world. Several studies have demonstrated that tea consumption has an impact on cognitive function.

Objective

This study aims to examine the association between tea consumption and cognitive function and explore the potential effect of genetics on the relationship between tea consumption and CI risk in older adults.

Design

This is a prospective longitudinal study using data from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS).

Setting

Six waves of data from CLHLS containing 76,270 subjects were analyzed. Generalized estimation equations (GEE) with a logit link function were adopted to estimate the effect of tea consumption on CI risk from a cross-sectional and longitudinal perspective.

Participants

A population-based cohort of adults aged 65–105 years.

Measurements

The frequency and type of tea consumption were obtained by questionnaires. CI was measured based on MMSE. Polygenic risk was measured using the polygenic score approach described by the International Schizophrenia.

Results

The results showed that drinking green tea had a better protective effect on cognitive function than other types of tea, the incidence of CI gradually decreased with the increase of tea consumption frequency, and men were more likely to benefit from tea consumption. Additionally, we also found a significant interaction between tea consumption and genetic risk, measured by polygenic risk score (PRS).

Conclusions

Based on current research evidence, tea consumption, may be a simple and important measure for CI prevention.

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Funding

Funding: This work is supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province, grant number ZR2021MC103, and the Humanities and Social Science Research Project, Ministry of Education, China, grant number 19YJA190006. Collections of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Surveys (CLHLS) datasets analyzed in this paper were jointly supported by the National Key R&D Program of China, grant number 2018YFC2000400, National Natural Sciences Foundation of China, grant number 72061137004, and the US. National Institute of Aging/National Institute of Health, grant number P01AG031719.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Weifang Medical University, Weifang, China

    L. Yu, C. Li, M. Zou, J. Wang, X. Yuan, D. Zheng, C. Sun, Y. Zhang, L. Sun & Yanyu Wang

  2. School of Public Health, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, China

    M. Yang

  3. Healthy Longevity Translational Research Program, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    K. X. Ye, A. B. Maier & L. Feng

  4. Centre for Healthy Longevity, National University Health System, Singapore, Singapore

    K. X. Ye, A. B. Maier & L. Feng

  5. Department of Psychological Medicine, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    K. X. Ye & L. Feng

  6. Department of Sociology, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    Q. Feng

  7. Faculty of Behavioral and Movement Sciences, Department of Human Movement Sciences, Vrije University, Amsterdam Movement Sciences, Amsterdam, the Netherlands

    A. B. Maier

  8. Department of Management, Business School of Xiangtan University, Xiangtan, China

    Huashuai Chen

  9. Center for Study of Aging and Human Development and Geriatrics Division, School of Medicine, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA

    Huashuai Chen & Yi Zeng

  10. Center for Healthy Aging and Development Studies, National School of Development, Peking University, Beijing, China

    Yi Zeng

Authors
  1. L. Yu
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  2. M. Yang
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  3. K. X. Ye
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  4. C. Li
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  9. C. Sun
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  10. Y. Zhang
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  11. Q. Feng
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  14. L. Feng
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  15. Yanyu Wang
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  16. Huashuai Chen
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  17. Yi Zeng
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Contributions

Author contributions: Conceptualization, LY, YW, YZ; methodology, YW, HC, LF, and LS; formal analysis, HC, KXY, QF, and JW; investigation, HC; data curation, LY, MX, JW, XY, and QF; writing—original draft preparation, L.Y., Y.W. and M.Y., M.X.; writing—review and editing, K.X.Y., J.W., X.Y., C.L., LY, DZ, QF, ABM, CS, LS, and LF; Supervision, LF and YW; project administration, HC, YZ and YW; funding acquisition, HC, YZ and YW. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Yanyu Wang, Huashuai Chen or Yi Zeng.

Ethics declarations

Conflicts of interest: The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial competing interests to declare with this manuscript.

Ethics, consent, and permission: The Peking University Institutional Review Board (IRB00001052-13074) has approved the study protocol of the current study.

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Informed Consent Statement: Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.

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Yu, L., Yang, M., Ye, K.X. et al. Investigating the Impact of Tea Consumption on Cognitive Function and Exploring Tea-Genetic Interactions in Older Adults Aged 65–105 Years: Findings from the 2002–2018 CLHLS Data. J Prev Alzheimers Dis 11, 769–779 (2024). https://doi.org/10.14283/jpad.2024.22

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