Attention Benefits of Tea and Tea Ingredients

Tea consumption has traditionally been associated with mental benefits, often ascribed to caffeine and L-theanine. Research to date suggests that tea improves attention. However, findings subtly differ for tea as a whole and for caffeine or L-theanine. Specifically, tea was found to improve simple attention processes, involving arousal and psychomotor activity, similar to the effects of caffeine. However, tea also improved more complex attention processes (e.g. Switch task performance), by allowing subjects to be more focused on the task at hand. In contrast, caffeine has been shown to affect complex attention performance, but only when consumed in doses higher than those regularly consumed in tea. While behavioral effects of L-theanine are largely absent, caffeine and L-theanine consumed together may exert different effects from those obtained from caffeine alone. Moreover, tea not only improves attention performance but also feelings of alertness. In summary, tea and tea ingredients can improve attention.