Good News! Tea Reduces Risk Of Death, Finds Study

New Delhi: This bit of news is sure to be like music to the ears of die-hard tea lovers, who cannot do without their cuppa. Actually numerous of them throughout the day. After all, what is a chilly winter day in India without endless cups of chai? A new study reveals good things about the hot beverage

Researchers in the United Kingdom have found that higher tea intake is associated with a modestly lowered risk of death in a comprehensive analysis of the potential mortality benefits of drinking black tea. Analysis of data revealed that people who have two or three cups of tea have 9 per cent and 13 per cent lower risk of death compared to those who do not have tea.

The study has been conducted by researchers at the National Cancer Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the United Kingdom, and it shifts focus from past studies that have mostly revolved around green tea.

“Researchers found that people who consumed two or more cups of tea per day had a 9% to 13% lower risk of death from any cause than people who did not drink tea. Higher tea consumption was also associated with a lower risk of death from cardiovascular disease, ischemic heart disease, and stroke,” NIH said in a statement, India Today reported.

Published in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, the study states that while tea is frequently consumed worldwide, the association of tea drinking with mortality risk remains inconclusive in populations where black tea is mainly consumed.

4,98,043 men and women aged 40 to 69 years participated in the study, of which 89 per cent said they drank the black variety. The study included answering a questionnaire between 2006 to 2010, which was followed up over more than a decade. The participants were followed for about 11 years, and death information came from a linked database from the UK National Health Service.

“Higher tea intake was associated with lower mortality risk among those drinking 2 or more cups per day, regardless of genetic variation in caffeine metabolism. These findings suggest that tea, even at higher levels of intake, can be part of a healthy diet,” researchers concluded.

NIH noted that the association was seen regardless of preferred tea temperature, the addition of milk or sugar, and genetic variations affecting the rate at which people metabolise caffeine, the report added.