July 10, 2007 – Drinking tea, especially green tea, may help prevent strokes. This is indicated by the results of an analysis of published studies on the effects of tea and its components on cardiovascular health.
Researchers from an Australian university analyzed the results of ten studies carried out on approximately 128,000 subjects, both in the West (Northern Europe, Australia and the United States) and in the East (China and Japan). ).
According to the results of four studies, the number of strokes in the populations studied decreased with the amount of tea consumed. The preventive effects of green tea were more marked in this regard than those of black tea. For example, women who drank more than five cups of green tea a day were five times less likely to have a stroke than those who did not, according to a Japanese study.
This protective effect is associated with antioxidants from the family of polyphenols contained in tea, in particular flavonoids and catechins. Green tea is richer in catechins than black tea.
The researchers also noted that those who drank tea regularly for a long time were better protected against stroke than people who took it only occasionally or recently.
However, these results should be viewed with caution. In cohort studies, the data may be influenced by factors other than those sought to be analyzed. We cannot therefore establish a direct cause and effect relationship.
Still, the evidence is compelling enough to advise people to drink green tea, especially since consuming the drink is inexpensive and doesn’t cause noticeable side effects, the researchers say.
Westerners, compared to Orientals, generally consume too little tea for the protective effect to be felt, they also observed. The consumption of green tea in the West is also minimal compared to that of black tea.
Pierre Lefrançois – PasseportSanté.net
1. Fraser ML, Mok GS, Lee AH. Green tea and stroke prevention: emerging evidence. Complement Ther Med. 2007 Mar; 15 (1): 46-53. Epub 2006 Aug 30.
