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.

The latest study has revealed that a higher intake of black tea reduces the risks of death from cardiovascular disease, ischemic heart disease and stroke. However, the study, led by Maki Inoue-Choi, underlines that black tea seemed to have no connection with reduced chances of cancer.

Nearly half a million men and women, between the ages of 40 and 69, participated in the study between 2006 and 2010. More than 9 of 10 participants self-reported as being White (caucasian). As per researchers, nearly 30,000 deaths occurred over the 14-year follow-up period.

Along with tea-drinking habits, the researchers also studied other factors, including age, sex, race and ethnicity, education, body mass index, general health status, co-morbid conditions, smoking, physical activity, alcohol drinking, coffee consumption, and diet. Nonetheless, they noted that there may be ‘unmeasured factors’ that could be associated with both tea-drinking behaviour and the risk of death.