A new study suggests drinking green tea often mat help protect against common eye diseases like glaucoma.

The study in the current issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry found that catechins are absorbed by the lens, retina and other parts of the eye and reduce oxidative stress in the eye.

Catechins found in green tea are known antioxidants which are believed to prevent damage caused by oxidation.

This is an animal model study in which the authors gave green tea to rats and then tested their eyes to see if catechins had any effort on their eyes.

Chi Pui Pang and colleagues from the Chinese University of Hong Kong found the green tea compounds did reduce oxidative stress in the eye for up to 20 hours.

Previously known green tea health benefits include prevention of cancer and depression and weight loss among other things. It is known that green tea components like EGCG promote death of cancerous cells or apoptosis.