Black tea lovers can rejoice: their favorite drink, often overlooked in favor of green tea, has also just won the “health drink” label. Indeed, according to a study by the US national cancer institute conducted among 498,000 people aged 40 to 69 registered on the Biobank of Great Britain, drinking at least two cups of black tea each day would reduce the risk of mortality, all combined causes.
“During a median follow-up of 11.2 years, high tea consumption was slightly associated with a lower mortality risk in those who drank 2 or more cups a day, compared to those who did not. Consumption of black tea, rich in heart-healthy polyphenols and known to lower LDL “bad” cholesterol levels, is essentially linked to lower rates of death from cardiovascular diseases (coronary heart disease, strokes). The researchers said that “no clear trend was observed for cancer or respiratory disease deaths”.
The addition of tea or sugar in the tea or the fact that the participants also drank coffee did not change the results” we learn in this study, published in the Annals of internal medicine.
The only limitation of the study recognized by the authors: the lack of information on certain aspects of tea consumption, such as the volume of the cups or the strength of the tea.
Source : Tea Consumption and All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality in the UK Biobank, Annals of internal medicine, August 2022
