February 27/Amsterdam, The Netherlands/Daily Mail -- A new study has suggested that drinking tea not only improves brain power, but also reduces tiredness and increases alertness, thereby improving the performance.

For the study, Dutch researchers looked at the effect of key chemicals found in tea on the mental performance of 44 young volunteers, reports the Daily Mail.

The effects of these ingredients, an amino acid called L-theanine -- which is also found in green tea -- and caffeine at levels typically found in a cup of tea, were compared with a dummy treatment.

The active ingredients significantly improved accuracy across a number of switching tasks for those who drank the tea after 20 and 70 minutes, compared with the placebo.

The tea drinkers' alertness was also heightened, the study found.

Tea was also found to reduced tiredness among the volunteers, who were aged under 40, according to the researchers.

The study has been reported in the journal Nutritional Neuroscience.

From the March 7, 2011, Prepared Foods E-dition