Ingesting black tea might cut back mortality threat, examine suggests

WWhereas inexperienced tea has lengthy had a status for well being, analysis on black tea has been rather more blended. One downside, says Maki Inoue-Choi, an epidemiologist on the Nationwide Most cancers Institute, is that giant observational research of tea and mortality have centered on international locations like Japan or China – locations the place inexperienced tea is extra standard.

To fill this hole, Inoue-Choi and her colleagues analyzed information in the UK, the place black tea ingesting is widespread. After surveying about 500,000 folks and monitoring them for a median of 11 years, the outcomes have been printed within the journal Aug. 29 Annals of Inner DrugsShe gave black tea a lift. Amongst tea drinkers — 89% of whom drank black tea in comparison with 7% who drank inexperienced tea — tea ingesting was related to a barely decrease threat of mortality for individuals who drank two or extra cups a day in comparison with non-drinkers . Individuals who added milk or sugar additionally skilled the profit, and the outcomes stayed constant whatever the temperature of the tea. The outcomes additionally present that tea drinkers had a decrease threat of dying from heart problems, ischemic coronary heart illness and stroke than those that didn’t drink tea.

Whereas it is arduous to say why individuals who drink tea would possibly reside longer, it isn’t a whole shock. In line with Inoue-Choi, tea is “very wealthy in bioactive compounds” that cut back stress and irritation, together with polyphenols and flavonoids.

A 2020 examine, utilizing the identical UK database as the brand new examine, discovered a hyperlink between greater black and inexperienced tea consumption and biomarkers that predict cardiometabolic well being, together with decrease levels of cholesterol. Analysis has additionally proven that tea may also help decrease blood strain.

Sooner or later, researchers ought to look extra intently on the hyperlink between tea and heart problems, says Rob M. van Dam, a professor of train and diet science at George Washington College’s Milken Institute Faculty of Public Well being, who didn’t participate within the examine . One factor that stands out in regards to the new analysis, he notes, is that there isn’t any hyperlink between a rise within the dose of tea — the quantity an individual consumes — and lowered mortality after the individual has drunk two or three cups. The exception, he mentioned, is once you remove espresso drinkers, which can have made it more durable to see a hyperlink between growing the quantity of tea you drink and mortality as a result of they’d decrease mortality charges through the examine. With out the espresso drinkers, it grew to become clearer that ingesting tea was related to a decrease threat of dying from coronary heart illness. “The affiliation between tea consumption and cardiovascular mortality might drive the affiliation between tea consumption and all-cause mortality,” says van Dam.

Nonetheless, none of that is meant to imply that you need to run to your kettle. The brand new analysis relies on an observational examine – which means the proof didn’t come from an experiment and the findings have been derived by the researchers. The outcomes should not be used to make well being selections and should be replicated in randomized medical trials, consultants say. Additionally, the magnitude of the affiliation between tea ingesting and mortality was modest, which means it is doubtless that one other attribute of people that drink tea might have led to this impact, van Dam says. For instance, hypothetically, individuals who drink tea is likely to be much less prone to devour smooth drinks.

As Inoue-Choi put it, the brand new findings ought to reassure individuals who drink tea usually. However “folks should not change what number of cups of tea they drink every day due to these outcomes,” she says.

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