Silver Leaf Tea Blog

A French study tested over 4000 women (with an average age of a whopping 79 years old). 44% of the the women that did not drink tea had plaque in their blood vessels. For those that drank more than three cups of tea daily only 33.7% had plaque in their blood vessels.



The conclusion was that women who drank large amounts of tea reduced their risks of cardiovascular disease due to their chances of getting clogged blood vessels being limited. They did not specify a certain type of tea that had more or less effect on the blood vessels, but all tea has some ability to dissolve plaque and other fatty substances.

10.10.07, 12:00 AM ET - Forbes

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 10 (HealthDay News) — New Australian research suggests that having a cuppa (tea, that is) may help strengthen older women’s hips.



“This study suggests that drinking tea in moderation can actually benefit your bones,” said lead researcher Amanda Devine, a senior lecturer in the nutrition program at the School of Exercise, Biomedical and Health Science, Edith Cowan University, and adjunct senior lecturer at the University of Western Australia’s School of Medicine and Pharmacology, in Perth.



“Those who drank tea in the study had a higher bone density over the four years that they were studied,” she said. “These women lost less bone than those who did not drink tea. More than three-quarters of the women drank tea daily, and they consumed on average about three cups per day.”



Outside experts called the findings intriguing but still preliminary.



“Some tea may be potentially helpful,” said Paul Brandt, an associate professor of neuroscience and experimental therapeutics at Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine. “One or two cups of tea a day probably couldn’t hurt, but I wouldn’t say that it absolutely will help. It’s possible that it could prevent some loss.”



Prior research has suggested that drinking tea may improve bone mineral density in people at risk for osteoporosis, but the findings are not conclusive. One study found that drinking green tea might help ease the inflammation and pain of rheumatoid arthritis.



Fractures, especially hip fractures associated with osteoporosis, are a major source of disability in postmenopausal women. Osteoporosis causes the bones to become fragile and more likely to break. Although it primarily affects older women, osteoporosis can affect others as well.



The new study, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, involved 1,500 elderly (70 to 85 years old) Australian women who participated in a five-year trial of the effect of calcium supplementation on osteoporotic hip fracture.



Information on tea consumption was collected at the beginning of the study for 275 participants, and all participants filled out a beverage consumption questionnaire at the end of the trial.



Bone mineral density at the hip was measured at years 1 and 5.



By the end of the study, bone mineral density at the hip was 2.8 percent greater in tea drinkers than in non-tea drinkers, the researchers found.



Over four years, tea drinkers lost an average of only 1.6 percent of their total hip bone mineral density, while non-tea drinkers lost 4 percent — consistent with previous studies.



There was, however, no relationship between the amount of tea consumed and bone gains, which raises some questions about the mechanisms which might be responsible for the effect.



“We didn’t see a dose-response to tea drinking — that is, if you drank more tea, then your bones were even better,” Devine said. “The lack of relationship may be due to the small numbers of tea drinkers in each group, once we started examining these data. When we just look at the whole group, we have more power to see a difference.”



The authors speculated that certain components of tea, such as antioxidant flavonoids, might account for the benefit seen.



Flavonoids “have been shown to have a stimulatory effect on new cells that build bone in cell line studies,” Devine explained. “Also, the weak estrogenic [effect] of phytoestrogens found in tea may be beneficial especially to older women whose levels of endogenous estrogen is low. Also, the addition of milk to tea will add calcium to the diet, which is also needed for healthy bones.”

Ruairi O’Kane - From The Sunday Times

May 27, 2007

GRANDMOTHER did know best. Scientists have established that tea left to brew in a pot is better for your health.

The traditional way of making a cuppa releases more cancer-fighting chemicals than simply dunking a tea bag in a mug of boiling water.



Researchers at the Rowett Research Institute in Aberdeen found that the concentration of antioxidants, which soak up damaging free radicals linked to cancer and heart disease, reaches its peak after five minutes’ brewing in a pot.



The scientists tested levels of polyphenols antioxidants naturally occurring in plants in the blood of volunteers who drank black tea brewed for up to 10 minutes.



They found that blood antioxidant levels were 60% higher among the volunteers who drank tea that had been brewed for five minutes than those who consumed a one-minute infusion. The difference between a three and five-minute brew was 30%.



Within an hour of drinking the five-minute infusion, the level of antioxidants in volunteers’ bloodstreams rose by up to 45%.



Leaving tea to brew for longer than five minutes yielded no extra health benefits. The researchers also found that adding milk to a cuppa had no effect on its cancer-fighting properties.



“We have established that the length of time you infuse the tea before you drink it is important,” said Garry Duthie, professor of molecular nutrition at the Rowett Research Institute and co-author of the study, published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. “These days, people tend to dunk the tea bag, so they are consuming fewer of these potentially beneficial chemicals than they did in the past.”



Research published earlier this year in the European Journal of Cancer Prevention suggested that drinking two cups of tea a day could cut the risk of developing skin cancer by up to 65%.



A review of published studies into the benefits of drinking tea, conducted by public health nutritionists at King’s College London and published last year, concluded that drinking three or four cups a day could cut the risk of suffering a heart attack. The study also suggested that drinking tea could strengthen bones and protect against tooth decay.



Meanwhile, scientists at Harvard medical school have concluded that drinking tea can reduce the risk of four of the major health problems: stroke, heart failure, cancer and diabetes.



Britain is the world’s second biggest consumer of tea, beaten only by the Republic of Ireland. Each day Britons drink 165m cups. However, consumption has declined as more people have switched to coffee.



“This research proves your old daily cuppa is doing you a power of good,” said Bill Gorman, executive chairman of the UK Tea Council.



“The longer you brew, the more value you are going to get. If you are a 40-second dunker you will get some value but not as much if you brew for four or five minutes.”



Ed Yong, Cancer Research UK’s health information officer, said: “Until more research is done, we would advise people simply to enjoy drinking tea.”