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Associations of Long-Term Tea Consumption with Depressive and Anxiety Symptoms in Community-Living Elderly: Findings from the Diet and Healthy Aging Study

The Journal of Prevention of Alzheimer's Disease volume 5, pages 21–25 (2018)Cite this article

Abstract

Objective

To examine the association between long-term tea consumption and depressive and anxiety symptoms in community-living elderly.

Design

Community based cross-sectional study.

Setting

The Diet and Healthy Aging Study (DaHA), a prospective cohort study in Singapore.

Participants

614 elderly aged 60 years and above, who were free of dementia and cognitive impairment.

Measurements

Information on tea consumption was obtained through interviewer-administered questionnaire. Long-term tea drinking was defined as regular consumption for at least 15 years. Depressive and anxiety symptoms were measured using the 15-item Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS-15) and the 20-item Geriatric Anxiety Inventory (GAI), respectively. A generalized structural equation model (gSEM) was applied to ascertain the association between long-term tea consumption and depressive and anxiety symptoms.

Results

About 59% of the subjects had consumed tea for over 15 years. Long term tea consumption was significantly associated with a reduced odds of having depressive and anxiety symptoms, after adjusting for demographics (i.e., age, gender, education and ethnicity), comorbid conditions (i.e., heart disease, diabetes, stroke, hypertension and hyperlipidaemia) and long-term coffee consumption.

Conclusion

There was evidence suggesting that longterm tea consumption was associated with reduced depressive and anxiety symptoms among community-living elderly. This suggests that it is worthwhile to further investigate the role of tea’s bioactive compounds in promoting mental health in aging.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

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

    S.-P. Chan

  2. Department of Decision Sciences, NUS School of Business, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    S.-P. Chan

  3. Cardiovascular Research Institute, National University Heart Centre Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    S.-P. Chan

  4. School of Engineering & Mathematical Sciences, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia

    S.-P. Chan

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

    P. Z. Yong, Y. Sun, R. Mahendran, J. C. M. Wong, T.-P. Ng, E.-H. Kua & Lei Feng

  6. Department of Psychological Medicine, National University Hospital, Singapore, Singapore

    R. Mahendran, J. C. M. Wong & E.-H. Kua

  7. Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore, Singapore

    R. Mahendran

  8. Aging Research Center, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet-Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden

    C. Qiu

  9. Department of Psychological Medicine, National University Health System, Tower Block Level 9, 1E Kent Ridge Road, Singapore, 119228, Republic of Singapore

    Lei Feng

Authors
  1. S.-P. Chan
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  2. P. Z. Yong
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  3. Y. Sun
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  4. R. Mahendran
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  5. J. C. M. Wong
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  6. C. Qiu
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  7. T.-P. Ng
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  8. E.-H. Kua
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  9. Lei Feng
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lei Feng.

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Chan, SP., Yong, P.Z., Sun, Y. et al. Associations of Long-Term Tea Consumption with Depressive and Anxiety Symptoms in Community-Living Elderly: Findings from the Diet and Healthy Aging Study. J Prev Alzheimers Dis 5, 21–25 (2018). https://doi.org/10.14283/jpad.2017.20

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.14283/jpad.2017.20

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