{"id":662953,"date":"2026-10-31T19:12:17","date_gmt":"2026-10-31T19:12:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/662953\/"},"modified":"2026-10-31T19:12:17","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T19:12:17","slug":"how-drinking-tea-regularly-may-support-heart-health-per-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/662953\/","title":{"rendered":"How Drinking Tea Regularly May Support Heart Health, Per Study"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Estimated4 min read<\/p>\n

Key Points<\/p>\n

\"CaretDrinking tea regularly may help protect your heart, a new study finds.The greatest benefit was seen in people who drank 6 to 8 cups a day.The lifestyle trifecta of tea-drinking, high physical activity, and avoiding smoking was linked to the greatest reduction of heart disease.<\/p>\n

A growing body of research links coffee to all kinds of health benefits\u2014it may protect your heart<\/a>, lower liver cancer risk<\/a>, and even lengthen your life<\/a>. But where does that leave the folks who prefer drinking tea?<\/p>\n

The findings of a recent study present good news: Tea also has a seat at the health-boosting beverage table.<\/p>\n

Meet the Experts: Christopher Davis, M.D<\/a>., chief cardiologist at Humann<\/a>; Michelle Routhenstein, M.S., R.D., preventive cardiology dietitian at <\/a>EntirelyNourished.com<\/a>; Arash Bereliani, M.D.<\/a>, board-certified cardiologist and medical director of the Beverly Hills Institute for Cardiology and Preventive Medicine.<\/p>\n

The findings, published in the Journal of Internal Medicine<\/a>, actually aren\u2019t the first of their kind\u2014regularly drinking tea has its own studied health benefits<\/a>, even if they may not be as talked-about as those of coffee. This research simply adds to the drink\u2019s credibility and lets you breathe a little easier if your morning beverage of choice leans the tea route. Below, cardiologists and a dietitian weigh in on the findings and share how they recommend taking your cup.<\/p>\n

What did the study find?<\/p>\n

Researchers observed a large group of nearly 486,000 adults in China and asked them about their tea-drinking habits. After nine years, they looked into participants\u2019 heart health to see how the tea may have affected it.<\/p>\n

They discovered that people who drank tea regularly had about an 11% lower risk of developing vascular disease\u2014including heart disease, stroke, and peripheral artery disease\u2014than people who didn\u2019t. Black tea showed a more consistent benefit than green tea, and while you may think the stronger the tea, the stronger the results, that wasn\u2019t the case here: Moderate-strength tea was shown to have the greatest effect. And more tea wasn\u2019t necessarily better, either. Weekly drinkers who sipped six to eight cups per day had the lowest risk.<\/p>\n

Temperature appeared to matter, too. \u201cOne finding stood out to me: People who drank their tea very hot actually had a higher risk,\u201d says Christopher Davis, M.D<\/a>., chief cardiologist at Humann<\/a>. According to the study, those who preferred their tea \u201cburning hot\u201d had a 16% higher risk of vascular disease.<\/p>\n

And, like many things in the nutrition world, it\u2019s not only about what you\u2019re eating or drinking: The rest of what you do each day plays a big role as well. In fact, the study found that people with the lowest vascular disease risk shared these three things in common: They drank tea regularly, didn\u2019t smoke, and were highly active\u2014folks who fit this \u201clifestyle profile\u201d had a roughly 45% lower heart disease risk than those with none of those habits. This implies that tea wasn\u2019t the only magic worker: Lifestyle mattered, too.<\/p>\n

How tea may lower heart disease risk<\/p>\n

\u201cTea is rich in polyphenols, mainly flavonoids, which are plant compounds that support the lining of your blood vessels,\u201d explains Dr. Davis. \u201cThat lining, called the endothelium, makes nitric oxide, which helps blood vessels relax and keeps blood flowing well. Flavonoids appear to support nitric oxide activity and may also help lower inflammation<\/a> and limit the oxidation of LDL cholesterol, which plays a role in plaque buildup.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Black tea\u2019s fermentation, Dr. Davis notes, creates its own set of polyphenols including theaflavins, \u201cwhich may help explain why it performed well here,\u201d he adds.<\/p>\n

The study highlights the reality that little habits add up to make a big difference. \u201cThere may also be a behavioral piece: A daily cup of tea often replaces a soda or sugary drink and can be a calming ritual,\u201d notes Arash Bereliani, M.D.<\/a>, board-certified cardiologist and medical director of the Beverly Hills Institute for Cardiology and Preventive Medicine.<\/p>\n

Although these findings found black tea to perform slightly better in terms of vascular disease, Michelle Routhenstein, M.S., R.D., preventive cardiology dietitian at EntirelyNourished.com<\/a> stresses that both black and green tea are antioxidant-rich, and there\u2019s no \u201cright\u201d answer for which kind you should drink. Also, just because the lowest estimated risk was observed among people who drank six to eight cups daily does not mean that everyone needs to drink that amount to benefit from it\u2014or that there wasn\u2019t a benefit to drinking less, she adds.<\/p>\n

The bottom line<\/p>\n

While the study presents some promising findings, it wasn\u2019t set up in such a way as to show that drinking tea causes a reduction in vascular disease. It was an observational study, meaning the people were followed up to see how many people did and didn\u2019t develop the condition, so it can\u2019t show cause and effect.<\/p>\n

As for the temperature component, participants merely self-reported the warmth of their tea\u2014it wasn\u2019t measured with a thermometer. The fact that those who called theirs \u201cburning hot\u201d experienced a higher disease risk is an association that warrants more investigation. However, researchers did note that the temperature-related findings are, at the very least, consistent with existing concerns that very hot beverages may increase disease risk<\/a>, namely that of cancer.<\/p>\n

The biggest takeaway? Regular tea-drinking can be a positive behavior, but it\u2019s not the only thing you should be thinking about if you want to live your best and healthiest life. \u201cTea can be a helpful addition to a heart-healthy lifestyle, but it is just one piece of the puzzle,\u201d explains Routhenstein. \u201cThe biggest priorities remain following a heart-healthy diet that meets your nutrient needs and supports healthy cholesterol and blood sugar levels, getting regular physical activity, avoiding smoking, prioritizing adequate sleep, and managing blood pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is also important to understand your individual cardiovascular risk and work with your healthcare team to identify areas that may need attention. \u201cPrevention involves addressing the interconnected factors that contribute to cardiovascular disease, including inflammation, oxidative stress, insulin resistance, endothelial dysfunction, and elevated levels of cholesterol-carrying particles that can promote plaque buildup,\u201d Routhenstein adds. \u201cSmall, consistent changes across several areas can have a meaningful impact on long-term heart health.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr. Davis agrees: \u201cThe bigger message is that heart health comes from habits that stack together, and this study showed exactly that.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"4 min read Key Points Drinking tea regularly may help protect your heart, a new study finds.The greatest…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":662954,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[140406,7947,298503,637,1345,163,521,85,46,195853,1975,149299,298502,237453],"class_list":["post-662953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-collection-health-news","tag-content-type-news-explainer","tag-contentid-6dc1441a-1850-4a52-9e7d-1cc2e0dd97b3","tag-displaytype-standard-article","tag-hasproduct-true","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-issyndicated-false","tag-locale-us","tag-read_time-5","tag-shorttitle-regular-tea-drinking-may-boost-heart-health","tag-sponsored-false"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=662953"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662953\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/662954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=662953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=662953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=662953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}