WEDNESDAY, Dec. 24, 2025 (HealthDay News) \u2014 Here\u2019s a DIY prescription for women looking to do everything they can to prevent a broken hip: Drink tea, not coffee.<\/p>\n
A decade-long study of older women found that tea drinkers had slightly stronger bones than their coffee-consuming counterparts.<\/p>\n
“Even small improvements in bone density can translate into fewer fractures across large groups,” said study co-leader Enwu Liu<\/a>, a lecturer in the College of Medicine and Public Health at Flinders University in Australia.<\/p>\n Liu\u2019s study \u2014 recently published in the journal Nutrients<\/a>\u00a0 \u2014 followed nearly 10,000 senior women over 10 years to compare changes in bone mineral density (BMD) among those who drank coffee or tea.\u00a0<\/p>\n BMD is a key marker used to gauge the risk of the bone-weakening disease osteoporosis<\/a>.<\/p>\n The upshot: While moderate coffee-drinking caused no harm, women who drank more than five cups a day had lower bone density.<\/p>\n “While moderate coffee drinking appears safe, very high consumption may not be ideal, especially for women who drink alcohol,” Liu said in a news release.<\/p>\n In all, 1 in 3 women over 50 has osteoporosis, a disease that leads to millions of fractures every year.\u00a0<\/p>\n Because billions of people make coffee or tea part of their everyday routine, researchers said it was important to understand how these drinks affect bones.<\/p>\n They noted that previous studies have yielded conflicting results, and few have followed so many women across a full decade.<\/p>\n Over the study period, participants reported their tea and coffee consumption, and imaging was used to assess bone density.<\/p>\n The upshot: Tea-drinkers had slightly higher bone density in their hips than those who didn\u2019t.\u00a0<\/p>\n Researchers conceded that the gain was small, but they added that it was statistically significant. As such, it might matter when the health of a large population is taken into account.<\/p>\n The verdict on coffee was mixed.<\/p>\n Two or three cups of joe every day didn\u2019t do any apparent harm, the study found. But very high levels could negatively affect bone strength, researchers warned.<\/p>\n They noted that women with a higher lifetime alcohol intake seemed especially vulnerable to coffee\u2019s negative effects. Tea, meanwhile, seemed to have stronger benefits in women who were obese.<\/p>\n