Tea and Hypertension

Drinking tea regularly may help prevent hypertension. According to the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, hypertension affects one in five Canadians and is the number one risk factor for stroke and a major risk factor for heart disease.

Research published in the Archives of Internal Medicine in 2004, found that regular consumption of moderate strength green or oolong tea for one year reduced the risk of developing hypertension. The study examined the effect of drinking tea on the risk of developing hypertension in 1507 subjects with no previous history of the condition. Researchers found that the risk of hypertension decreased by 46 percent for the 600 subjects in the study who consumed 120 ml or more of tea per day for at least a year.