And now, a new study shows that it can keep you active and on your feet — especially if you’re getting up there in years.

Japanese researchers tracked nearly 14,000 seniors for up to three years, and found that those who drank the most tea were a third less likely to battle disability — including problems with everyday life, such as bathing or dressing — than those who drank the most.

This being Japan, however, the people who drank the most drank quite a bit — five cups a day (those who drank the least, on the other hand, had less than a cup on average). That’s a lot of tea, but you don’t have to drink that much to benefit. In fact, three cups a day reduced the risk of disability by a quarter.

The study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition doesn’t show why green tea helps keep seniors active and independent, and part of the reason is almost certainly because the tea drinkers in the study had healthier lifestyles overall.

But that’s not the only reason — because green tea is packed with powerful antioxidants that have shown to boost health and ward off disease before, including epigallocatechin gallate.

That’s a name that was designed to trip tongues, so we call it EGCG for short — and studies have shown that this stuff can reverse the cell damage linked to illness and disease.

Green tea has also been shown to fight cancer, gum disease, stress, depression, pneumonia, and more. It can also boost your immune system, lower your levels of bad cholesterol, reduce your stroke risk, ward off dementia, and even help you to lose weight.

It’s about as close to a “magic” elixir as you’ll find — so go and brew yourself a cup or five today.

So what’s the secret?

Aside from good genes, a low obesity rate and a diet rich in fatty fish, the Japanese have one habit that never quite caught on here: They drink green tea by the gallon.

Nearly every home and workplace has an electric kettle, always on and ready to brew some green tea — and new research out of Japan confirms again that those who drink the most, age the best.

The study of 14,000 Japanese seniors finds that the heaviest tea drinkers — those who gulp down five or more cups a day — are less likely to need help with everyday activities like getting dressed and bathing.

These tea-loving seniors are 33 percent less likely to suffer from “functional disabilities” than those who drink little to no tea.

People with more moderate tea consumption — two or three cups a day — can still get most of the benefit: They’re 25 percent less likely to suffer from functional disability than non-drinkers, according to the study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

The study didn’t look at why green tea drinkers are healthier and more independent, but this one’s a no-brainer: Green tea’s famous antioxidants have been shown to fight and even repair the DNA damage that comes from aging and disease.

One small study a couple of years ago found a 20 percent reduction in DNA damage after just a month of regular green tea consumption.

It’s practically a miracle in a mug, boosting your health from head to toe — and along with slashing your risk of functional disability, green tea can also help cut your odds of cancer, dementia, diabetes, depression, heart disease, osteoporosis and more.

Green tea drinkers even live longer, too (as the Japanese can testify).

There are lots of products that claim to have green tea — or green tea extract — in them, but skip all that and get yours the old-fashioned way: brew a cup fresh whenever you want some.

Green tea has been shown to boost the metabolism and help the body burn off fat — and the latest research on mice shows why: One of the compounds in green tea can stop the body from absorbing fat and even help the body to better use the fat it does absorb.

The compound is the antioxidant Epigallocatechin-3-gallate — but with a name like that, you can see why it’s usually just called EGCG.

In recent lab tests, obese mice fed EGCG gained weight 45 percent more slowly than obese mice put on the same diet without the EGCG. They also had 30 percent more fecal lipids, which indicates that the EGCG was pushing fats through the body instead of allowing them to be absorbed.

The one catch here is that the mice were given the equivalent of 10 cups of green tea a day — or the amounts of green tea no one drinks, except for maybe the Japanese (on the other hand, maybe that’s why they’re so thin).

But the researchers believe you might get similar benefits from less tea.

Just don’t expect any miracles here — because green tea alone, in any amount, won’t make you slim and trim… especially if you stick to the same diet that helped you to pack on pounds in the first place.

Remember, these mice GAINED weight — they were all given a diet the researchers compared to milkshakes. The ones who drank the tea just gained that weight more slowly.

But if you’re willing to make the changes you need to get your waistline back under control — and give up the milkshakes — then green tea could help give your body a fat-burning boost.

And that’s not all it can do.

Over the years, studies have shown that green tea can fight bacteria, slash your cancer risk, beat depression, improve your vision, boost your heart health and even extend your life.

One study I told you about last year even found that green tea can actually repair the DNA damage caused by oxidation and aging — almost like a fountain of youth for your cells.

Throw in the fact that green tea is cheap, widely available, comes with no risks and tastes great and you’ve got nothing to lose — brew a pot today and start enjoying the benefits.

And all it takes to get started is just a month of tea- sipping.

The two-part study in the British Journal of Nutrition involved a placebo-controlled trial along with an in vitro lab experiment, and they both revealed the same thing: Tea can actually fight off the oxidative stress associated with aging and disease.

In the trial, 18 volunteers were given either a green tea drink (specifically, the somewhat pricey Longjing variety) or water every day for four weeks. Blood and urine samples taken before and after the study period revealed the true power of tea: a 20 percent reduction in DNA damage after that single month of sipping.

For the other part of the study, researchers incubated human blood cells with green tea. Then, they exposed those cells to hydrogen peroxide, a damaging oxidation agent– and found that the cells exposed to tea were better able to resist damage from oxidation.

Stress and damage from oxidation leads to aging and disease. The fact the tea can actually undo that damage helps to explain a study published earlier this year, which found that found green tea drinkers have “younger,” less- damaged cells.

And that’s not the only benefit of tea. The polyphenols in tea–especially green tea, which can have up to 10 times as much as black–have been linked to cancer prevention, vision health and even longer lives. Some studies have also found that green tea may reduce the risk of diabetes, dementia, depression and so much more.

The best way to awaken the polyphenol powers of green tea is with a squeeze of lemon and a pinch of sugar–but if you’re having problems with your waistline, skip the sugar and stick to the lemon.

And if you’re not–make teatime the only time you use the stuff.