Can drinking tea improve focus, brain health, and thwart cancer? The Townsend Letter Group believes it can. “This supplement highlights many of the new frontiers being investigated regarding black and green tea's potential public health benefits" said symposium co-chair Jeffrey Blumberg, PhD, professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, and director of the Antioxidants Research Laboratory at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University, Boston. Co-chair Lenore Arab, PhD, professor of internal medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, added, "There are tremendous advancements to better understand the mechanisms by which tea may reduce risk for heart disease, certain cancers, [and] type 2 diabetes and help maintain neurological function." Studies show that theanine tea increases attention and focus. This study on theanine, an amino acid found in several types of teas, found that theanine actively alters the attention networks to the brain. An amount of purified EGCG (the most abundant polyphenol in tea) equal to the amount in two to four cups of green tea per day to animals with induced Parkinsonism, they found the animals appeared to prevent brain cells from dying and showed improvements in reducing compounds that lead to lesions in the brains of animals with Alzheimer’s disease. Human epidemiological and new animal data from around the world suggest that drinking tea especially those kinds rich in flavonoids named catechins help support the brain as we age. Lastly, they found that tea may alter cancer genetics.