For years scientists have praised the health benefits of drinking tea.
But now they have found that while drinking a couple of cups protects the heart, the biggest gains come from knocking back ten cups daily.
Ten cups – around 1.2 litres – cut the risk of heart disease by 16 per cent compared to that of non-tea drinkers.
Drinking a couple of cuppas had a more modest effect at just 5 per cent. The health benefits came from drinking unsweetened black tea, the analysis of 14 previous studies found.
We drink around 100million cups of tea daily, according to the UK Tea and Infusions Association
‘Our analysis demonstrates that black tea consumption was associated with a reduced heart disease risk. Our results support recommendations for black tea consumption to the primary prevention of heart disease,’ the team of cardiologists at Nanying University in China said.
While the researchers, writing in Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases, did not say whether drinking tea with milk had a benefit, the research included two UK studies where drinking milky tea is the norm. We imbibe around 100million cups of tea daily according to the UK Tea and Infusions Association. The study looked at 958,477 people, of whom 16,990 went on to have heart disease.
While many studies have linked green tea to health benefits, possibly because of its higher antioxidant and lower caffeine content, the latest research strengthens the case for black tea’s protective effect. Scientists do not yet know how tea protects the heart.
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Tea slashes heart disease risk, scientists find – but you need to drink TEN cups a day!