A cup or two of black tea a day may lower mortality risk: Study

While the benefits of green tea are well known, new research has revealed that a cup of black tea every day is linked with a lower risk of death. According to the US-based National Institutes of Health's Cancer Institute, the mortality risk was lowest – 9 percent to 13 percent -- among people who had two or more cups of black tea per day. This was regardless of whether the person added milk or sugar to the tea, or what the preferred temperature was.

The study adds that drinking tea was found beneficial even in cases of individuals who also consumed coffee. “These findings provide reassurance to tea drinkers and suggest that black tea can be part of a healthy diet,” said the researchers in a summary of the findings, which were published on Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine journal.

There have been studies on the benefits of black tea earlier as well but they were mostly conducted in countries where drinking green tea is common like China or Japan. This time, the study has been conducted in the United Kingdom, where black tea drinking is common.