An Overview of Research on the Potential Health Benefits of Tea

Coronary Heart Disease (CHD)

• A total of 3,430 men and women aged 30-70 years from the Saudi Coronary Artery Disease Study were examined and 6.3 percent were found to have indications of coronary heart disease (CHD). The researchers found that those who drank more than six cups of tea per day (>480 mg) had significantly lower prevalence of CHD than non-tea drinkers, even after adjustment for risk factors like age and smoking⁹. The researchers also found that drinking six or more cups of Black Tea per day was associated with decreased serum cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations.
• Dutch researchers found that study participants who drank one to two cups of Black Tea daily had a 46 percent lower risk of severe aortic atherosclerosis, a strong indicator of cardiovascular disease. Those who drank more than four cups of tea a day had a 69 percent lower risk¹⁰.

Cardiac Events

• The Zutphen study, which assessed 805 male subjects over a period of five years, found that the incidence of fatal and nonfatal first myocardial infarction and mortality from stroke decreased significantly as intake of flavonoids, derived mainly from tea, increased in a dose-dependent manner². A follow-up to this study found that high intake of flavonoids significantly lowered the risk of stroke in study participants³.
• A Harvard study examined 340 men and women who had suffered heart attacks and compared them to matched control subjects. They found that those who drank a cup or more of Black Tea daily had a 44 percent reduction in the risk of heart attack compared to non-tea drinkers¹¹.
• Another recent Harvard study of 1,900 people found that those who consumed tea during the year prior to a heart attack were up to 44 percent more likely to survive over the three to four years following the event. Those who consumed fewer than 14 cups of tea per week experienced a 28 percent reduced death rate and those who consumed more than 14 cups of tea per week were found to have a 44 percent reduced death rate, as compared to non-tea drinkers¹².
• o A recent meta-analysis discovered that consumption of three cups of tea per day was associated with an estimated decrease of 11 percent in the incidence of myocardial infarction, or heart attack¹⁴.

Cholesterol

Researchers from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) studied the effect of tea on 15 mildly hypercholesterolemic adult participants following a "Step I" type diet moderately low in fat and cholesterol, as described by the American Heart Association and the National Cholesterol Education Program. After three weeks, researchers found that five servings of Black Tea per day reduced LDL ("bad") cholesterol by 11.1 percent and total cholesterol (TC) by 6.5 percent compared to placebo beverages

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