Drinking green tea can reduce the risk of early death from heart disease by up to a quarter

[Guest guest]

Hi all,

 

Taken from:

<http://www.chinesemedicinetimes.com/page.php?xPage=news.html#news11>

http://www.chinesemedicinetimes.com/page.php?xPage=news.html#news11

 

Rose, D.

 

A Japanese study of more than 40,000 people suggests that drinking five or

more cups a day can also decrease deaths from other causes such as strokes.

But the researchers, from the Tohoku University School of Public Policy, in

Sendai, found no link between green tea consumption and a reduced risk of

death from cancer.

 

The results are published today in the Journal of the American Medical

Association. The study, started in 1994, included 40,530 adults aged 40 to

79 in northeastern Japan, where 80 per cent of the population drink green

tea regularly and more than half consume three or more cups a day.

 

The participants had no history of stroke, coronary heart disease or cancer

at the outset, and were followed up for 11 years for deaths from any cause

and seven years for deaths caused by heart disease or cancer.

 

By last year, 4,209 of the participants had died; during the seven-year

follow-up to 2001, 892 had died because of heart disease, 1,134 because of

cancer.

 

Compared with participants who consumed less than one cup of green tea a

day, those who consumed five or more cups had a 26 per cent lower risk of

fatal heart disease, and 16 per cent lower risk of death from any cause.

 

Women felt the most benefit. Their risk of death from heart disease over

seven years was reduced by 31 per cent if they drank five or more cups of

green tea a day.

 

Chemicals in green tea called polyphenols, known to have strong antioxidant

properties, have been studied extensively as possible preventive agents for

heart disease and cancer. Antioxidants are known to neutralise the effect of

compounds in the body called free radicals, which attack healthy cells.

 

However, the researchers found no significant association between green tea

consumption and death from cancer.

 

Tea is the most consumed beverage in the world other than water, and because

of this even small benefits could have large implications for public health,

the researchers write.

 

Kind regards,

 

Attilio D'Alberto

Doctor of (Beijing, China)

BSc (Hons) TCM, MATCM

Editor

Times

+44 (0) 1189 612512

enquiries

www.chinesemedicinetimes.com