Tea up for good health – reduce your risk of CVD and cancer

Drinking tea is associated with reduced risk of mortality, cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancer according to a new meta-analysis published in the British Journal of Nutrition.[1]

Commenting on this new research, dietitian Dr Carrie Ruxton from the Tea Advisory Panel notes: “This was a meta-analysis of 18 prospective studies which evaluated the influence of black and green tea consumption on all causes of death, cardio vascular disease and cancer.[2]

“With regards to cardio vascular disease (CVD) mortality, overall risk was reduced by 12% for those black tea drinkers recognised as the largest consuming group of the infusion. The highest green tea consumers had a significant 33% reduction in CVD mortality compared with consumers with the lowest tea consumption habits. For cancer deaths, the overall risk was reduced by 21% in the highest tea consuming group compared with the lowest (black tea).

[1] Tang J, Zheng JS, Fang L, Jin Y, Cai W, Li D. Tea consumption and mortality of all cancers, CVD and all causes: a meta-analysis of eighteen prospective cohort studies. Br J Nutr. 2015 Jul 23:1-11. [Epub ahead of print]

[2] Overall, there were 12,221 deaths from cancer, 11,306 from CVD and 55,528 deaths from all causes, respectively.